Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:08:0
Kris Alingod - AHN Contributor
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) - The White House on Thursday hit back at former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean for saying the compromise healthcare bill in the Senate is a dream for insurance companies. Dean, a medical doctor who was said to have been vetted by the Obama administration for surgeon general, said earlier this week the Senate should kill the legislation.
In a blog post, White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer wrote, "The insurance industry has been leveraging its considerable resources in a ferocious effort to defeat this bill, including producing a report the day before the Senate Finance Committee vote that was so misleading the firm behind it had to walk away from it."
Pfeiffer called Dean's comments "perplexing" and pointed out provisions in the bill to lower premiums and hold insurance companies accountable, including those prohibiting the denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions, the charging of premiums based on age or gender.
The previous day, Dean said on ABC's "Good Morning America," "This is a bigger bailout for the insurance industry than AIG... This is an insurance company's dream, this bill. This is the Washington scramble and I think it's ill-advised."
Dean, a former governor of the Green Mountain State, told Vermont Public Radio on Tuesday, "This is essentially the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate. And, honestly, the best thing to do right now is kill the Senate bill... There are some good things in this bill, but they're small, and let's have a small bill for this $32 billion."
Senate Democrats have dropped plans to include in their $849 billion health reform bill a public option and a proposal allowing 55-year-olds without coverage to buy into Medicare.
The changes, made to gain the 60 votes needed to pass the bill before the Christmas recess, have left liberals and proponents of a government insurance plan unhappy, but many of them have chosen to support the measure with the broader goal of passing reform in mind.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has said his chamber, which last month approved its own bill that had a public option, will pass the legislation without a government health plan from the Senate.
Moreover, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), chairman of the Health subcommittee in the Senate Finance panel and a leading advocate for a public option, told MSNBC on Wednesday Dean's comments were "nonsense and irresponsible."
"Coming from him as a physician, it's stunning and he's wrong," added Rockefeller. "Am I angry that the public option appears to have been dropped? Of course I'm angry about that, I proposed the original bill on the floor which was the really tough one... I look at the entire bill and say what is in the general interest of the people in my state and the people of America and then I vote. I'm going to vote yes."
About the same time, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs also pushed back against Dean's comments.
"Insurance companies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying against this legislation," Gibbs told reporters. "They've spent hundreds of millions of dollars on television ads on networks and cable stations throughout our television to try to kill reform. If this is such a good deal for them I'm not entirely sure why they're fighting it."
But Dean continued his criticisms on Thursday, warning on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," "Prices will go up for pre-existing condition insurance in my state because of this bill... this bill was essentially written by staff in the [Senate] Finance Committee who had previously worked for places like WellPoint and United Healthcare. This is an insurance company's dream."
"I understand the White House is upset with my criticisms," Dean added. "I'm still a huge supporter of the President and a huge supporter of all those senators who are upset with me, but the fact is, this has now become an insurance company's dream with the loss of the public option, the loss of Medicare."
The proposal to let uninsured Americans between 55 and 64 years old enroll in Medicare had been put forward to gain the support of all 60 Democratic caucus members, particularly Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), for a government insurance plan.
Senate Democrats have a 60-vote majority, the minimum required to overcome filibusters from Republicans, who have been united in opposing a bill they say harms small businesses and creates new taxes for American families.
The Democratic majority includes Lieberman, an independent, and Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), who has vowed to oppose a final bill if no changes are made ensuring no public funding is allowed for abortions.
Democrats unveiled their reform proposal last month, touting its coverage of 94 percent of the nation and extension of healthcare to 31 million more Americans. Called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the measure had a public option that would allow states to opt out of a federal program.
But with Lieberman refusing to budge and Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) pushing for a "trigger" type of public option, no agreement was reached by the caucus about a government health plan.
Lieberman said on Tuesday he was "encouraged that progress has been made" on the bill. The 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee also addressed criticisms of his alleged reversal on the issue of Medicare buy-in.
"The Medicare buy-in proposal was part of the Gore/Lieberman platform in 2000, but in 2000 our nation's budget was balanced, debt levels were less than half current levels, Medicare was not on the verge of insolvency," said Lieberman.
The same day, Senate Democrats huddled with President Barack Obama at the White House about how to pass the measure before the holiday break. "The final bill won't include everything that everybody wants. No bill can do that," Obama said after the meeting.
Senate Majority Harry Reid (D-NV) on Monday said he hopes to pass the bill by next week.
"This is like a steeplechase race," he said in a press conference. "The last big puddle is in front of us, we'll jump over that and we'll be at the finish line. I'm confident that by next week we'll be on our way to forward this bill to the President."
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