Women's insurance amendment slated for Senate's first health bill vote

As the Senate debates the health reform legislation, amendments are being advanced and Senators are reacting to the bill.

Associated Press: "A bipartisan amendment to increase insurance benefits for women ... gets the first Senate vote Tuesday on health care overhaul legislation." The provision, co-sponsored by Sens. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, "would require policies to include a variety of yearly screenings and was inspired in part by controversial recommendations last month that women undergo fewer mammograms and Pap smears to test for cancer." Mikulski said the amendment does not "mandate that you have a mammogram at age 40. What we say is discuss this with your doctor, but if your doctor says you need one, my amendment says you are going to get one." According to the AP, "The Congressional Budget office said the amendment would cost $940 million over a decade."

When the Senate began its health bill debate on Monday, "each side offered the first of what are likely to be dozens of amendments, with the measures seemingly designed as much to court a skeptical public as to reshape Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's 2,074-page bill." Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., offered the first GOP amendment. It "would strip out more than $400 billion in Medicare cuts to home health providers, hospitals, hospices and others — a pitch to seniors, who polls show have deep concerns about the legislation." Meanwhile, Democrats, too, were ready to launch an offensive Tuesday "with an amendment underscoring benefits to seniors and guaranteeing that basic Medicare benefits would not be touched  (Werner, 12/1).

The Hill's Blog Briefing Room: Also on Tuesday, "Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) will file an amendment to the Senate healthcare bill in order to repeal the insurance industry's antitrust exemption. ... Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) has said he's secured an assurance from Reid that the provision will not be included in the final Senate bill." Leahy said the amendment would "prohibit the most egregious anticompetitive conduct — price-fixing, bid-rigging and market allocations — conduct that harms consumers, raises healthcare costs, and for which there is no justification." Also, Sen. Joe Lieberman "joined Leahy in calling for a repeal, an interesting move for the Connecticut Independent whose state is home to several insurance firms' headquarters" (Zimmerman, 12/1).

Roll Call: Lieberman reacted to the Congressional Budget Office's analysis of health premium costs under Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) reform bill. He called the measure "'quite an accomplishment,' but he said he still opposes the $848 billion package in its current form. ... But Lieberman, who has said that he will not vote to end debate on the bill if it contains a public insurance option of any kind, said his position has not changed. Reid's package includes a public option with an opt-out provision for the states."

Of the CBO analysis, he said, "It doesn't change my position. As a matter of fact, it strengthens my position. My feeling is, the public option doesn't support any of the major goals that I've always had for health care reform" (Drucker, 12/1).