WASHINGTON (AP) _ The second-ranking House Democrat predicted that
historic health care legislation will be passed Saturday as the AARP,
the nation's premier lobbying group for the elderly, announced it was
signing on to the bill.
Rep. Steny Hoyer said House leaders expect to have the 218 votes
needed to pass the sweeping bill, which would extend coverage to tens
of millions of uninsured people and ban insurance companies from
turning people away. President Barack Obama has the health care
overhaul the defining social goal of his young administration. Hoyer
acknowledged that the vote could be tight, and he said his prediction
of passage is predicated on the expectation that a couple remaining
obstacles can be surmounted.
"I wouldn't refer to it as a squeaker, but I think it's going to be
close,'' Hoyer said. "This is a huge undertaking.''
The Maryland Democrat said language on abortion and illegal
immigrants was still being worked out, but predicted those issues
could be solved in time for Saturday's scheduled debate and vote on
the 10-year, $1.2 trillion legislation.
"We certainly have well over 218 people who say they want to vote
for the bill,'' Hoyer said in an interview with wire service
reporters.
"The trick is making sure they have a comfort level with the
provisions they are particularly focused on to allow them to do so,''
he said. "So I think that's what we're in the final stages of trying
to get to.''
Obama planned a rare trip to the House on Friday to try to win over
wavering lawmakers.
Strong opposition persists on the Hill, however, and Republican
leaders planned an appearance later Thursday outside the Capitol at a
rally and protest led by anti-big-government "tea party'' activists.
Hoyer said the bill's endorsement by the powerful seniors' lobby
AARP, announced Thursday, was a significant boost.
AARP Senior Policy Adviser John Rother said the 40-million strong
organization favors the House bill because it closes the coverage gap
in Medicare prescription benefits, puts strict limits on what health
insurers can charge older workers too young for Medicare and creates
a voluntary, long-term care insurance program.
"The bill does improve quality, and it improves access,'' said
Rother. "When people hear this message from us, it will have
impact.'' AARP will reach out to its state and local chapters ahead
of the House vote, particularly in districts with a large numbers of
older people and a lawmaker who's undecided.
The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network also announced its
support for the legislation Thursday, and the American Medical
Association, which had endorsed an earlier version of the bill,
scheduled a midday press call to weigh in.
Action is slower on the other side of the Capitol, where senators
are awaiting an analysis from the Congressional Budget Office on
legislation written by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and others.
The timeline there appears likely to spill into next year.
The AARP's backing is a big boost for the House effort. Support from
this group proved a crucial stamp of approval when then-President
George W. Bush pushed the Medicare prescription drug benefit through
a closely divided Congress in 2003.
With no GOP backing, Democrats will need overwhelming support from
within their own caucus. An intraparty disagreement over how to
prevent federal funds from being used to pay for abortion has not yet
been entirely resolved, though Hoyer said that language being
circulated by one anti-abortion Democrat, Rep. Brad Ellsworth of
Indiana, seemed likely to be the basis for an agreement.
Ellsworth's language aims to strengthen stipulations already in the
bill against federal money being used to pay for abortions. It would
still allow people to pay for abortion coverage with their own money.
That distinction doesn't satisfy anti-abortion groups, which dismiss
it as an accounting gimmick. They say federal subsidies for insurance
coverage would not be clearly segregated from private funds used to
pay for abortions.
The National Right to Life Committee issued a blistering press
release Wednesday night calling Ellsworth's proposal "a political fig
leaf made out of cellophane.''
Ellsworth said that didn't bother him: "I know what's in my heart, I
know what's in my head and I think the big guy upstairs knows,'' he
said.
House leaders are also still grappling with illegal immigration,
specifically whether illegal immigrants _ who would be barred from
getting federal subsidies _ should be able to purchase insurance
coverage within new government "exchanges,'' using their own money.
The White House does not want this allowed, but some members of the
Congressional Hispanic Caucus and other Democrats view that position
as too extreme. Hispanic Caucus officials were scheduled to meet with
Obama at the White House on Thursday.
The House bill would provide government subsidies beginning in 2013
to extend coverage to millions who now lack it. Self-employed people
and small businesses could buy coverage through the new exchanges,
either from a private insurer or a new government plan that would
compete. All the plans sold through the exchange would have to follow
basic consumer protection rules.
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