Hoyer: Options to advance health reform have 'pluses and minuses'

The Washington Post / Reuters: In a National Press Club speech today, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., outlined various options including that of not passing a bill. "The Democratic leader said another option would be to try to pass a scaled-backed measure 'that will make modest improvements for Americans, assuming Republicans want to work with us.' Or, Hoyer said, Congress could try to give final congressional approval to the sweeping Senate bill and then 'both chambers pass fixes' to bridge differences on affordability, funding and other matters." He said all of these approaches have positives and negatives (Cowan and Smith, 1/26).

CQPolitics: Hoyer also detailed the necessary steps to create "a stripped-down health care overhaul with Republican help." He also warned, though, that such a measure "would be hard to piece together because most changes needed to improve the health care system are inter-related, which was one reason why House and Senate Democrats ended up passing differing but sweeping bills that eventually ran into trouble." He said the "creation of a 'limited exchange'" was one possible area for bipartisan action. Another on his list was to allow small businesses to pool together to maximize their purchasing power as they seek insurance for their employees. "He also listed ending the antitrust exemption for health insurers, a step he said would improve market competition" (1/26).

The Wall Street Journal reports Hoyer as saying: "'There are no easy choices. But the objective of accessible, affordable, quality health care remains.' Mr. Hoyer noted the House passed legislation to help in job creation in December and he urged the Senate to act as well" (Hughes, 1/26).

The Boston Globe: Meanwhile, on the Senate side, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said today he would prefer completing health reform by having the House pass the Senate bill and "for the Senate to make it more digestible to the House by approving fixes through the reconciliation process." The second part of this plan would only require a simple majority to clear the Senate. "Kerry said he did not think voters would be angry about using the reconciliation process -- a procedural maneuver that would let Democrats do an end-run around Scott Brown -- as long as the fixes remove the 'completely egregious items' that were in the bill" (Vallejo, 1/26).