Baucus pushes long-term viewpoint on health reform

Sen. Max Baucus said Friday his Finance Committee will produce a comprehensive health-reform bill before Congress’ summer recess next month, but that it’s still a long, bumpy road before a final measure gets passed.

He also acknowledged that even if health-reform legislation passes Congress and becomes law this year, it will be years before some of the major reforms take effect.

“It’s true that a lot of this will bear fruit later and not immediately,” he told the Lee Newspapers State Bureau in an interview. “But we have to start sometimes. …

“In the past, we’ve just been reacting (to health care problems). This is long-term. If we’re going to be transformative and game-changing, we’re going to have to put some things in place now.”

Baucus, D-Mont., has been leading the Senate discussions on health-reform legislation since last year.

The U.S. House and Senate Health committee are producing their versions of major health care reform bills, but the Finance Committee’s bill is expected to be a key piece of the political puzzle. Baucus chairs the panel.

All three versions will require every Americans to buy health insurance at a future date, along with subsidies and reforms to help make that insurance affordable.

Yet two critical elements of the package — how to pay for it and whether it will include a publicly run, government insurance plan that competes with private insurers — are yet to be decided.

Baucus wouldn’t tip his hand Friday on which tax increases or budget cuts he might support to make the package pencil out, but said he’s working to find common ground among enough senators to move the bill.

“I don’t want to get specific on revenue, because once something gets out, everyone pounces on that,” he said. “My goal is to get an agreement. I have some measures that I prefer, but I’m just one senator.”

Tax options on the table include a 5 percent income-tax surcharge on those earning at least $500,000; extending the current Medicare payroll tax to capital gains and other income; capping itemized income-tax deductions for wealthy taxpayers; and taxing high-end health benefits that are currently exempt from taxation.

He also said a majority of the senators on the Finance Committee do not favor a “pure public option,” which is the government-run insurance plan that would compete with private insurers.

They’d like to find a way to offer an alternative plan that somehow is run by the private sector or a private entity, such as a nonprofit cooperative, he said.

Yet Baucus noted that the House version of health care reform will include the government-run insurance plan, and that any final bill must pass both the Senate and the House.

“There will be many speed bumps that are tough to resolve, that I can’t even see right now,” he said. “It’s going to happen, but because this is such a big bill, there will be things that we haven’t thought of.”

While some have suggested that Congress is moving too fast on such a complex issue, and could take some smaller steps, Baucus said he is committed to passing a comprehensive bill - and that many other senators are, too.

“We have to get a handle on the increases in health care costs,” Baucus said. “We’ve got to change incentives in how we pay for health care, to start getting control of costs and improving health care. …

“It’s very encouraging to me that throughout my discussion with all senators … they’re all trying to figure out a way to get to ‘yes.’ … We have an opportunity now; the president and Congress want health care reform. Let’s not cop out and do half of it.”

source