Conservatism - among some Democrats, too - is holding up health care reform - MedCity Morning Read, July 29, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Conservatism — even among Democrats, who tend to be more liberal than Republicans — is holding up health care reform in Washington, according to the New York Times.

Maybe that’s a good thing. A growing number of Americans are concerned about whatÂ health care overhaul could mean to them. Now is the time to examine those concerns.

On Tuesday, President Obama — the chief cheerleader for reform — tried to sellÂ older people on reform after members of Congress were deluged with phone calls from constituentsÂ afraid their Medicare benefits would be cut to pay forÂ covering the uninsured, the Times said.

The outpouring of concern over Medicare came as House Democrats who have crafted the most liberal of reform plans so far try to get their conservative brethren to fall in line. Fiscally conservative House Democrats have been holding up progress on the reform legislation as they look for ways to lower its $1 trillion price tag over 10 years, the Times said.

On the other side of the Capitol, the six senators — three Democrats; three Republicans — in the Senate Finance Committee reported progress Tuesday toward a bipartisan reform bill that creates a new federal panel to hold down Medicare costs, particularly payments to hospitals and other health care providers, according to the Times.

Members of Congress have come up with one plan after another to pay for the uninsured, but all the plans suffer from one fatal flaw — they do not raise revenue as quickly as health care costs rise, the Times said in a separate story. Revenue fromÂ a proposed income surtax on high-income earners, for instance, would grow only as fast as the overall economy. The same is true for most taxes. But health care costs are growing atÂ nearly three timesÂ that rate.

Though various taxes and tax increases are being debated to pay for health care reform, perhaps the only tax that could keep up with growing costsÂ is a tax on health care. the Times suggests. The Senate Finance Committee, for one, is considering taxing high-end health care benefits. Everyone in Washington seems to be waiting for that committee to release its bill, which has been in the work for months and aimed at being bipartisan.

Also likely part of the finance committee’s bill:Â Non-profit cooperativesÂ that would cover the uninsured rather than a government-run insurance plan, to which most Republicans andÂ centrist Democrats are opposed. Generally, cooperatives are owned by their members — individuals who need health insurance. The co-opsÂ likely would offer a system of health care providers (kind of like today’s preferred provider networks) or contract out for their members’ medical services, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Results of a Harris poll that tried to gauge opinions about a “public or government-sponsored health plan” found that for every five Americans supported such a plan, at least a little, three Americans who did not. Meanwhile, some liberal Democrats like Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV from West Virginia and Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan expressed concern about givingÂ Republicans more of what they want, the Times said.