Dems work on health-care bill

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pushed by President Barack Obama, senior Democratic lawmakers plunged into marathon talks at the White House on Wednesday in a hurry-up bid for agreement on overdue health-care legislation.

“I don’t want to put any parameters on time, but we’re making progress,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., during a brief trip to the Capitol at midafternoon.

The House and Senate have passed different versions of the measure, which Obama wants to expand health coverage to millions who lack it, end insurance- company practices such as denying coverage on the basis of pre- existing medical conditions and slow the rate of growth of medical costs overall.

Hoyer and others said the day’s talks ranged widely over numerous areas of disagreement between the House and Senate.

A key point was Obama’s demand for a tax on high-cost insurance plans, a proposal designed to slow the inexorable rise in health-care costs. House Democrats oppose the idea. So, too, does organized labor, and some union leaders were also at the White House during the day, although it was not clear whether they met with lawmakers.

The unusually long meeting of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and other senior lawmakers — it began at midmorning and was still going at sunset — underscored the urgency they and Obama felt about completing legislation on which they have staked so much.