Senate Health Reform Bill Has Amendment Protecting Some Medicare Advantage Patients

Oct. 14, 2009 - An amendment to the Senate Finance Committee bill, sponsored by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., would allow most Medicare Advantage patients in southern Florida to keep their current benefits.

The Sun-Sentinel reports: "Medicare patients in South Florida have flocked to plans run by private Health Maintenance Organizations that offer special benefits such as low co-payments and health-club memberships. The Finance Committee bill would allow people already enrolled in many of these plans to keep current benefits. The provision applies to plans that operate at relatively low cost in competitive places such as South Florida" (Gibson, 10/13).

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The St. Petersburg Times reports: "The legislation includes an amendment [Nelson] championed that would spare some cuts under Medicare Advantage, an alternative to traditional Medicare that offers better benefits, such as vision care, but costs the government more. Nelson seeks to grandfather in an estimated 800,000 Floridians who use the plans. Before the [Finance Committee] vote, Nelson read letters from a few of the scores of people who have written him with health care horror stories, including a 49-year-old constituent who cannot afford cancer medication" (Leary, 10/14).

Status Report On Health Care Reform Proposals In Congress

The Associated Press breaks down the different health care reform packages in Congress and takes a look at where the bills — five in all — stand after the Senate Finance Committee voted Tuesday to send their bill out of committee.

The AP compares the Senate Finance and HELP (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) Committees' bills as well as the House bill, the Republican outline for health reform and President Obama's proposal. For each bill, the AP details who would be covered, the cost, how it's paid for, the requirements on individuals and employers to buy or provide coverage, subsidies, benefits packages, insurance industry regulations, the inclusion of a public plan, how residents would choose their coverage and changes to government-run programs like Medicaid and Medicare (Alonso-Zaldivar and Werner, 10/14).

The AP also has a breakdown of "what happens next" in the Senate, the House, the White House and with lobbying groups. (Werner and Hirschfeld Davis, 10/13).

Snowe's Vote Paves Way For Other Centrists To Support Baucus Health Bill

Before voting with the Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, had been involved in negotiations for months that led to the shape of the measure's key elements, USA Today reports. "The Maine senator refused to support a government-run insurance option to compete with private insurers — and the bill didn't have one. She wanted insurance policies to be more affordable for lower-income workers — and the bill was changed to provide bigger government subsidies." Snowe has earned a reputation for this type of strategy. She only voted with her party 44 percent of the time in 2009 through August, and was one of only three Republicans to support Obama's stimulus package (Schouten, 10/13).

The Associated Press bids readers to "Forget Sarah Palin. The female maverick of the Republican Party is Sen. Olympia Snowe." Though Republicans had "grumbled about punishing Snowe should she vote 'yes' ... the best they could do publicly Tuesday was to make clear that she told them her decision before the Democrats found out.... 'I don't think there's any possible negative political implication,' one Maine political watcher said. 'She is untouchable electorally in the state of Maine'" (Kellman, 10/13).

In "fiercely independent" Maine, a Web publisher, a church steeple maker, and a contractor praised Snowe's vote, Maine Business reports. "Today's vote gives us hope. All we are looking for is a little more coverage at a lower price," the steeple builder said (Hoey, 10/14).

The vote Tuesday does, however, provide leverage for Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., who can now "argue that what he has delivered is as far as moderates in the Democratic Party are willing to go — and if liberals try to put in an employer mandate, a robust public option or massive new subsidies for coverage, the delicate balance Baucus forged in his committee will splinter" Politico reports (Budoff Brown, 10/13).

Roll Call reports that one Democratic aide said, "Health care reform didn't just gain one Republican vote today, it gained about four or five centrist Democratic votes. Snowe's support, assuming it holds, will provide the cover many moderates needed to vote for this bill” (Pierce, 10/14).

Meanwhile, Democrats may have lost a vote, Roll Call reports in a separate story. Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent who caucuses with the Democrats, told FOX News Tuesday, that he could not support the current version of the Finance Committee's bill. "I'm afraid that in the end the Baucus bill is actually going to raise the price of insurance," he said (Pierce, 10/13).

The Wall Street Journal has a roster of some other Senate players to keep an eye on. Snowe offers the obvious "swing vote"; the "other Republican" is Susan Collins, R-Maine, who may be swayed to support a Democratic proposal; Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., faces re-election in a conservative district and a "yes" vote could be politically risky on the floor; Ben Nelson, D-Neb., "the conservative," may also back away from Democratic plans; Mary Landrieu, D-La., "the Southerner," faces stiff resistance at home; and, the Senate's "wild card," Roland Burris, D-Ill., has criticized the bill from the left, saying he won't support it without a public option (Bendavid, 10/14).

>> Biography of Sen. Olympia Snowe

This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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