NEWS

Committee finishes markup; vote possible next week – Politico

The Senate Finance Committee finished its work Friday on a sweeping health care reform bill, moving President Barack Obama a step closer to fulfilling his campaign pledge to overhaul the $2.5 trillion system.

Senate Panel Softening Insurance Penalties – New York Times

The Senate Finance Committee voted Thursday to soften the impact of financial penalties that would be imposed on people who did not obtain insurance under sweeping health care legislation.

17 Held in Protest Outside Health Insurer’s Offices – New York Times

Right-wing and antigovernment activists — a few of them wielding not only signs but even loaded firearms — have organized some of the angry protests surrounding the health care debate. But in Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday morning, a different sort of health care protest took place, led by left-leaning groups who accused insurers of greed and called for nationwide, single-payer health insurance.

Unions: No tax on ‘Cadillac’ health plans - The Hill

Organized labor is turning to House Democrats to oppose a tax on high-cost insurance plans that is under consideration to help pay for healthcare reform.

Medicare Advantage Plans To Increase Premiums for Some — But Not All Seniors — in 2010 – Kaiser Health News

In Miami next year, seniors once again won’t have to pay any monthly premiums for a Medicare health plan sold by HMO giant Humana Inc.

Pelosi: GOP has double standard in health care rhetoric debate – CNN

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped congressional Republicans on Thursday for holding Democrats to a higher standard in the rhetoric employed in the often acidic health care debate.trans.gif

OPINION

The Centrist Public Option – EJ Dionne

The strangest aspect of the debate over a public option for health coverage is that the centrists who oppose it should love it.

The Public Option Compromises: An Interview With Sen. Tom Carper – Ezra Klein

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) has emerged as a possible dealmaker on the public option. As one of the Finance Committee’s moderates, he’s trusted by centrists in the Democratic Caucus. But he also voted for Schumer’s public plan. His idea is to free states to add in whatever competitors they choose: A public plan, a co-op or even an expansion of the benefits they offer to state employees. We talked earlier this afternoon, and he made a lot of "Better Than Ezra" jokes, and at least one "Better Than Tom" joke. An edited transcript — jokes removed — follows.

Former Cigna Executive Says Health Care Reform Will Be a "Bailout" of the Insurance Industry – Jezebel

Wendell Potter, former health care executive: "We will be essentially paying a tax that will help support these insurance companies. It will be an enormous bailout of the health insurance industry." Partial transcript after the jump.

Rep. Boehner: "I’ve Not Talked To One" American Who Supports The Public Option – Media Matters

On October 1, 2009, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) claimed that he hasn’t found a single American outside of Congress who supports a public health insurance option. In fact, 65 % of Americans and 57% of Ohioans support "giving people the option of being covered by a government health insurance plan that would compete with private plans."

Cantwell’s ‘Basic Health Plan’ Amendment Is A Good Start, But It’s Not A Public Option - Think Progress

Several reports are describing Sen. Maria Cantwell’s (D-WA) ‘Basic Health Plan’ amendment — which would give states the option to provide health care coverage to people with incomes between 133% and 200% of the federal poverty line (about 75% of the uninsured) — as a “quasi public option.”

Considering Carper’s Public Option Compromise - Think Progress

Politico is reporting that Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) is floating a new public option compromise that would “allow states to individually decide whether to create a private-insurance competitor such as a government plan and a nonprofit insurance cooperative, or to open up state-based insurance pools for government workers to every resident.” The option won’t come up during the Senate Finance Committee’s mark-up but may end up in the merged Senate bill or in an amendment offered on the Senate floor.

(compiled for Health Care for America Now)