Alabama congressmen cautious over health care reforms
By: Health Insurance
Submitted: 2009-10-01 10:11:16 | Word Count: 793
Alabama's Republican and Democratic lawmakers said they're skeptical of key elements of the health care plans moving through Congress and agree they don't want legislation that includes a public health insurance option."Don't get me wrong, the health care industry needs some reform," Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Anniston, said in a statement. "It's too expensive, (and) businesses can't afford to cover their employees. ... But it doesn't need to be taken over by the government."
Unlike most in their party, Alabama Democratic Reps. Artur Davis and Bobby Bright of Montgomery don't support a government-run option. Neither do Republican Sens. Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions.
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Rogers said private health insurance companies couldn't compete with a government-run plan.
Davis, D-Birmingham, said Democratic House leaders should listen to their members and President Barack Obama, who has said there is room for compromise on the public option.
"The idea that it's the holy grail of this debate is wrong," Davis said.
"Public option can't pass the Senate," Davis said. "I'm interested in something that can pass and Barack Obama can sign."
Bright, D-Montgomery, and other Alabama lawmakers said they heard an earful from constituents at town halls and meetings during the August recess and most said they opposed a public option.
"They were very emotional about it," Bright said. "We heard them not only in my district, but across the country. I got that message loud and clear."
Despite their party's push for major changes, Davis and Bright tend to side with their Republican colleagues on many health care reform issues.
Still, national health care advocates said Southern states, including Alabama, tend to have higher rates of uninsured and underinsured residents and are likely to benefit more from health care changes than other states.
"People in the Southeast are probably going to come off better than other regions of the country," said Ron Pollack, president of Families USA, an advocacy group that is part of a coalition, including the pharmaceutical industry, supporting health care reform.Among other things, reform would provide subsidies to help more people afford private health insurance, Pollack said.As the focus in the health care debate shifts to the Senate, Alabama's lawmakers are sorting through several plans, particularly the latest proposal from Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Finance Committee. The committee will play a major role in the overhaul.
Davis called Baucus' plan a "template for bipartisanship," but he said the Democratic House plan is "flawed."
"We need a new bill. The Senate is moving in that direction," Davis said. "Unfortunately, the House is not moving in that direction. What I see in the House is some hardening of the battle lines. That's discouraging."
House Republicans and Democrats said they will continue to press for health care reform, which has stalled.
"It's halftime in the process," said Louisiana Rep. Charles Boustany, a doctor and GOP point man in the health care debate. "We need to continue to work to find a bipartisan consensus to drive down the cost of health care for families and small businesses. I'm not sure that the Senate proposal does that, and clearly the House bill does not."
The bills in the House and Senate contain many similar provisions. They would require most people to buy insurance, provide subsidies for people who can't afford it, ban lifetime caps on insurance coverage, and bar insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions.
But the proposals differ on cost, how they'd be paid for, whether they'd add to the deficit, and whether to create a government-run "public" health insurance option that would compete with private insurance plans.
The Baucus plan omits a public insurance option, calling instead for nonprofit insurance co-ops. It would cost $856 billion over 10 years.
That cost would be covered through cuts in Medicare payments, a tax on high-cost insurance plans, penalties for people who refuse to buy coverage and large companies that refuse to offer it to employees, and fees and taxes on insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry and other health care providers.
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