WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee drafting health care legislation soundly rejected two versions of a proposed government-run program Tuesday. Supporters of the "public option" vowed to resurrect the provision later this fall.
Moderate Democrats twice voted with a unanimous bloc of 10 Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee to beat back attempts by more liberal Democrats to insert the public option into the $900 billion, 10-year plan under consideration by the committee.
Defeat of the public option underscored divisions among Democrats and bolstered predictions by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., that the proposal doesn't have the support it needs to pass in the full Senate. "My job is to get this bill across the finish line," said Baucus, chairman of the Finance Committee and one of five Democrats who voted against the public option offered by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.
Supporters of a public insurance program, including President Obama, have argued it would lower health care costs by offering competition to private insurance companies. Most Republicans counter that a government-run plan would drive private insurers out of business.
"It is a slow walk toward government-controlled, single-payer health care," said Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Finance panel's ranking Republican. "A government-run plan is not the answer."
Rockefeller's version of the public program, which would initially pay doctors for services at the same rate as Medicare, was defeated 15-8, with five Democrats opposed. A separate amendment, offered by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., was voted down 13-10, with three Democrats voting against it.
Schumer, Rockefeller and other senators who support the public option vowed to keep pushing for the provision. Their first opportunity may come if the Finance Committee approves its bill. At that point, Democratic leaders must merge the Finance bill with separate health care legislation passed in July by the Senate health committee. The health committee bill includes a public option.
"The public option is on the march," Rockefeller said.
After months of bipartisan talks, Baucus unveiled draft legislation this month that calls for non-profit health care cooperatives owned by policyholders instead of a public option.
The Finance Committee bill is the only one in Congress that doesn't include a public program.
Richard Kirsch of Health Care for America Now -- a leading advocate for the public option -- noted that Senate health care legislation also must be merged with legislation in the House that includes the public plan.
Kirsch said that the majority of Democrats on the Finance Committee who voted in favor of the public option sent a message to leaders that there is broad support among Democrats, at least, for the provision. "From here, it will continue to build support," he predicted.
But R. Bruce Josten, chief lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which opposes the public option, said the committee votes are an indication that Democrats are far short of the 60 votes they will need to overcome the threat of a filibuster and pass the provision.
"I don't know how this could be good for proponents of a public plan," Josten said. " I don't see how this is winning."
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