Word: billing
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...Among the still not truly resolved issues that are certain to be argued again in the broader arena of the House and Senate floors: Whether the bill should include a requirement that individuals who do not get coverage from their employers or from government programs buy it on the open market. If so, how can lawmakers ensure that people who are required to buy coverage can actually afford it? Should it include a requirement that all but the smallest firms provide a package of health benefits to their workers, and if so, how would it be enforced? How should...
...aide described as a "bed-check vote" on Oct. 13, which could be an early indication of his ability to hold his Democrats together against the threat of a filibuster; that first vote is expected to be on a routine parliamentary procedure, such as whether to proceed to the bill. The House has not announced whether it will begin deliberations at the same time or shortly thereafter. House leaders are anxious to see how things are going in the Senate before they begin their own debate. (See the top 10 health-care-reform players...
...leaders, Reid has the harder job. In part, that is because of the way the Senate is set up as an institution. The majority leader's powers are far weaker than those of the Speaker, and he has fewer parliamentary tools for controlling what happens to a bill once it hits the floor of his chamber. He must also contend with the fact that it takes 60 votes on almost anything to overcome a filibuster. Reid must also grapple with the two bills passed by his committees - the Finance Committee and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee - which...
...Nowhere will Reid be more closely scrutinized than in his handling of the public option, which is the controversial proposal to set up a government-run plan, similar to Medicare, as an alternative to private insurers for covering the uninsured. Will he include the plan, as the HELP Committee bill did, inviting a certain effort to strike it out of the bill by amendment on the floor? Or will he offer a bill similar to the Finance Committee's, which does not contain the public option, and see an effort to add it on the floor? "Reid's not tipping...
...preferred by moderates. But either way, the chances of a public option surviving in the Senate seem unlikely. If it is voted down, as expected, that may create an opening for Republican Senator Olympia Snowe - who is the only Republican still considering a yes vote on the health bill - to come in with her so-called trigger proposal to create a public plan as a fallback if private insurance companies do not do enough to bring down health-care costs. Snowe refrained from offering that amendment in the Finance Committee, in hopes of having a better shot on the Senate...