Agreement to drop public option pushes health bill ‘way down road’

WASHINGTON An agreement by liberal Democrats to drop their insistence on a government-run health plan has moved a massive health-reform bill much closer to a vote in the Senate. The compromise, widely reported Wednesday following a Tuesday night session on Capitol Hill, could hasten passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in time for the Christmas holidays, according to its chief architect and backer, Senate majority leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

If so, the bill would still have to be reconciled with a health overhaul measure passed last month by the House. If those major steps can be accomplished, the proposal that emerges from months of often bitter debate in the House and Senate would almost certainly be signed by a supportive President Obama.

The agreement by Senate Democrats to drop the public health plan option came after it was clear that some members of Reid’s own party wouldn’t support it. Without virtually every Democratic senator on board, it was certain to the champions of the massive health reform package that the fragile coalition sustaining momentum on the bill would fall apart, dooming its chances for passage this year.

Nevertheless, many provisions central to the Democrats’ health overhaul plan remain in place, including a fallback plan to establish a network of nonprofit health plans administered by the Office of Personnel Management, which runs the federal employees' health plan. Those not-for-profit plans would be created and run by the private sector, and uninsured Americans could choose to enroll in one through the new insurance-exchange network envisioned by the Reid bill.

The Senate majority leader said the “broad agreement” hammered out Tuesday night “moves us way down the road” toward passage of a bill. What’s more, Reid and other reform-minded Democrats could also claim another minor victory following the negotiations: an agreement to expand Medicare to Americans unable to easily obtain health coverage otherwise.

Under the agreement, Medicare coverage would be made available to Americans ages 55 to 64 years. That could add another two to three million beneficiaries to the rolls, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

Next step in the long process: an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office of the new proposals. That study could take several days, analysts predict.