Democratic leaders debate health reform at the White House

The Associated Press/BusinessWeek: President Obama was meeting Wednesday afternoon with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in an effort to produce a compromise between House and Senate legislation, underscoring "their desire to strike a quick deal." Democrats' sense of urgency for reaching a speedy conclusion to the debate, already nearly a year long, is exacerbated by flagging public support for the legislation and "a special election next Tuesday in Massachusetts to replace the late Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy -- an unexpectedly close race that could cost Democrats the pivotal 60th vote they need to push the measure through the Senate," according to the AP. "Lower-level negotiators from the White House and the two chambers have already been holding closed-door meetings and trying to make decisions. They seem likely to abandon a House-approved surtax on the wealthy even as they consider extending the Medicare payroll tax to investment income of high earners, Democratic officials said" (Fram, 1/13). 

FOX News: Some House Democrats warned Tuesday "that talks could erode if the Senate doesn't start making some compromises of its own." Those lawmakers have complained that negotiations have leaned towards the Senate's version of the bill, "but neither side wants to budge too much on certain issues." Lawmakers remained split Wednesday "on whether to apply Medicare taxes to dividend income, whether to tax high-value insurance plans and whether to set up state-based or national insurance exchanges" (Pergram and Turner, 1/13).

Exactly where the talks stand right now is an open question because "these health care negotiations are very secret," USA Today reports. "Another congressional delegation" - in addition to Pelosi and Reid, it included a roster of key congressional leaders - "went to the White House today to talk with President Obama about a health care bill -- and another congressional delegation left without talking to reporters" (Jackson, 1/13).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.