Sen. Baucus Discusses Prospects for Health Care Overhaul This Year
Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on Tuesday at a health policy conference in Washington, D.C., said that advancing health care reform legislation "this year is my top priority -- No. 1," The Hill reports (Young, The Hill, 2/3). Baucus made the comments at the annual National Health Policy Conference, sponsored by the journal Health Affairs and AcademyHealth (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 2/3). Baucus said, "The American people elected a new president and a newly empowered congressional majority," adding, "We have a duty to deliver the change for which the people voted." Baucus added that the combination of the rising numbers of the uninsured, discrepancies in the quality of care and increasing costs have made health care reform vital (Lengell, Washington Times, 2/4).Baucus did not specify a timeline for passing health care legislation, but he said he would like to do so "[e]arly, certainly in this session of this Congress, not the next session of this Congress." According to Baucus, "The longer it takes [to pass health care legislation], the more likely it is that the agenda becomes crowded with other priorities" (Edney, CongressDaily, 2/3). "Why might reform not happen this year? As is often the case, the new administration and the new Congress face competing priorities," he said, adding, "These priorities compete for time on the agenda and attention in the press and in public." Baucus said that some of the "obstacles" that could delay legislation include the economic recession, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the federal budget deficit (Washington Times, 2/4).
Baucus indicated that overhauling the health care system could not be accomplished under pay/go budgeting rules. According to The Hill, "Since late last year, Baucus has sent the clear message to his congressional colleagues that health care reform is going to require the federal government to scale up its spending" (The Hill, 2/4).
Baucus also said that he does not believe a single-payer health care system is the right model for the U.S. at this time because the shift would be too big of a change and would place too much of the private sector under control of the government. He said, "We're constituted differently than European countries" with single-payer systems, adding, "There's more of an entrepreneurial sense" in the U.S. "So we've got to come up with a uniquely American result. And a uniquely American result will be a combination of public and private insurance," Baucus said (CQ HealthBeat, 2/3).
Webcasts of the conference are available online at kaisernetwork.org. This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
