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<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><A
href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20091124/pl_bloomberg/aiu2z4sikyis">http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20091124/pl_bloomberg/aiu2z4sikyis</A></FONT></DIV>
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<H1>White House, AARP Seek to Capitalize on Senate Health-Care Vote</H1>
<DIV class=byline><CITE class=vcard>Catherine Dodge </CITE><ABBR
class=timedate title=2009-11-23T21:01:00-0800>Tue Nov 24,
12:01 am ET</ABBR> </DIV><!-- end .byline -->
<DIV class="mod ad darla_ad" id=darla-ad__LREC> </DIV>
<DIV class="mod ad darla_ad">Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The Obama administration and
two major lobbying groups are seeking to spur momentum for a health- care
overhaul after the <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1259069502_0>U.S. Senate</SPAN>
cleared the way for a floor debate that is likely to extend to Christmas or
beyond. </DIV>
<P>The administration released a report yesterday showing how states would
benefit from the legislation to expand <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1259069502_1>medical insurance coverage</SPAN>. The <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1259069502_2>American Medical Association</SPAN> and AARP, which have
endorsed the bill, announced a <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1259069502_3>national television advertisement</SPAN> to highlight how
they say the measure would improve Medicare and to defeat what they called
“scare tactics” by opponents. </P>
<P>“We know opponents of health-care reform won’t rest,” <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1259069502_4>Nancy LeaMond</SPAN>, an AARP <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1259069502_5>executive vice president</SPAN>, said in a statement. The
group, which advocates for the interests of seniors, has 40 million seniors.
</P>
<P><SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1259069502_6>The Republican National
Committee</SPAN> countered by releasing an ad targeting Democratic senators from
some Republican-leaning states, saying the lawmakers “sold out their
constituents” by voting to allow the debate to begin even though the lawmakers
object to parts of the legislation. </P>
<P>“If you know it’s a bad bill, why would you vote out a bad bill,” <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1259069502_7>Republican National Committee Chairman
Michael Steele</SPAN> said in an interview on CNN discussing the new ad. </P>
<P><FONT size=4>The campaigns build on what has been record ad spending to
influence the outcome of the health-care debate -- more than $170 million has
been spent on <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1259069502_8>television
advertising</SPAN> this year by all sides on the issue, said Evan Tracey,
president of Campaign Media Analysis Group in Alexandria, Virginia. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>‘More Combative’ </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>“We haven’t had this much in such a short period of time” on any
other issue, Tracey said. “<U>As the process has moved on, it’s gotten much more
combative</U>.”</FONT> </P>
<P>As the battle heats up, Senate lawmakers are on a weeklong Thanksgiving
recess. They return next week to start debate on an $848 billion, 10-year plan.
It’s <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1259069502_9>President Barack Obama</SPAN>’s
top domestic initiative and would bring about the biggest changes to the U.S.
health-care system since Congress created the Medicare insurance program for the
elderly in 1965. </P>
<P>The study released yesterday by Health and Human Services <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1259069502_10>Secretary Kathleen Sebelius</SPAN> said
that under an overhaul, 4.5 million California seniors would get free <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1259069502_11>preventive care services</SPAN>; 565,000
Florida seniors would have their brand-name <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1259069502_12>prescription drug costs</SPAN> in a Medicare program cut in
half; 24,000 small businesses in <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1259069502_13>Nevada</SPAN> would be helped by a tax credit to make
premiums more affordable. </P>
<P><FONT size=5>No Room for Reid </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=5>While <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1259069502_14>Majority Leader
Harry Reid</SPAN>, a Nevada Democrat, won over two holdouts in his party hours
before the 60-39 vote on Nov. 21 to proceed with the legislation, he has no room
for defections in the Democratic caucus for final passage, with every Senate
Republican opposed. Reid aims for a final vote by year-end. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=5>That means settling disagreements over abortion coverage, how to
pay for the expansion, and whether to include a government-run insurance plan,
or public option, to compete with private insurers, such as Hartford,
Connecticut-based <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1259069502_15>Aetna Inc</SPAN>.
</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=5><SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1259069502_16>Senators Mary
Landrieu</SPAN> of Louisiana and <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1259069502_17>Blanche Lincoln</SPAN> of <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1259069502_18>Arkansas</SPAN>, the last two Democrats to agree to allow
the start of debate, are among those who say <U>big changes must be made in
Reid’s legislation for them to vote for the final bill</U>. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=5>They are also among the lawmakers targeted in the <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1259069502_19>Republican National Committee</SPAN>’s new
advertisement, as is <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1259069502_20>Democrat Ben
Nelson</SPAN> of Nebraska, who has expressed reservations about the bill as it’s
currently written. </FONT></P>
<P>Insurance Mandate </P>
<P>The legislation is intended to cover 31 million uninsured people and curb
costs. Like a bill passed Nov. 7 by the U.S. House, the Senate plan would
require all Americans to get health coverage. It would set up
insurance-purchasing exchanges and provide subsidies for those who can’t afford
coverage. </P>
<P>Republicans argue the measure will explode the U.S. budget deficit, cause
rationing of health care and fail to produce the cost savings that are a chief
goal. Republican leaders estimate the plan’s true cost at about $2.5 trillion
over a decade.
<P>One major sticking point is the public option. The measure would let
individual states choose not to offer it.
<P>Another issue is whether to help finance the plan with a 40 percent tax on
high-value insurance policies. Labor unions object to the tax, saying their
members would be hit too hard.
<P>Nelson, Lincoln and Landrieu oppose the public option and also want
adjustments in the abortion language and more aid for small businesses.
<P>Lieberman, Snowe
<P><SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1259069502_21>Senator Joe Lieberman</SPAN>, a
Connecticut independent who caucuses with Democrats, has said he won’t support a
bill that includes the government-run plan, as has the only Republican who
supported a health bill in a committee vote, <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1259069502_22>Senator Olympia Snowe</SPAN> of <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1259069502_23>Maine</SPAN>.
<P>Snowe favors creating a public option only if private insurers aren’t
offering enough affordable policies.
<P><FONT size=4>Highlighting the tension over abortion, The U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops sent a letter last week calling the Senate measure an “enormous
disappointment” that didn’t “live up to Obama’s pledge to bar the use of federal
dollars for abortion.” </FONT>
<P>Senate Democratic leaders say the measure keeps existing restrictions on the
use of taxpayer money for abortion services. It requires <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1259069502_24>state insurance</SPAN> purchasing exchanges to offer at
least one policy with abortion coverage and one that doesn’t.
<P>If the Senate passes a bill, it then would work toward a compromise with the
House that require approval in both chambers before a measure could go to Obama.
<P>To contact the reporter on this story: Catherine Dodge in Washington at <A
rel=nofollow><FONT
color=#4485be>Cdodge1@bloomberg.net</FONT></A></P></DIV></BODY>
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