Measure may leave 17M in US without coverage

mcclatchy newspapers

WASHINGTON — As a Senate committee prepares to vote today on a closely watched plan to overhaul health insurance, senior Democrats are increasingly squaring off against key industry groups over how many people ultimately will be covered by the bill.

The showdown, fueled by estimates that as many 17 million people Americans would remain uninsured under the legislation, now threatens to shadow the health debate as party leaders prepare to bring bills to the floors of the House and Senate in coming weeks.

Consumer advocates, health providers, insurance companies and others who have provided momentum for the Democratic drive for health legislation are pushing to cover almost all of the roughly 40 million Americans and legal immigrants who lack coverage.

But a series of compromises designed to control costs and minimize burdens on consumers has led to cutbacks in the number of uninsured who would be covered by the bill expected to emerge today from the Senate Finance Committee.

That has provoked alarm among hospitals and insurers, who have made universal coverage a condition of their support for this year’s drive to pass health-care legislation. The insurance industry stepped up its critique Monday, warning the legislation now moving through Congress would accelerate the rise in premiums.

Leading Democrats are defending the Senate Finance Committee’s approach, which would save money by limiting federal subsidies to help people buy insurance. Many believe that is a necessary trade-off, even though it means the health legislation would fall short of a key goal of President Obama and his congressional allies to cover all Americans.

“I’d like more [insurance coverage],” said Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd, a liberal Democrat who shepherded a companion health-care bill through the Senate health committee this summer in place of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.

“But that’s a pretty good start. ... Senator Kennedy was a great advocate of the idea that you do the best that you can.” Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman and a leading author of the House Democratic health-care bill, also said compromises in how many people will be covered may be necessary.