Kansas Congressman Dennis Moore is one of several fiscally conservative Democrats trying to postpone the floor vote on a $1 trillion health reform bill favored by House Democratic leaders, but which has little chance of attracting Republican support.
Moore, who represents the Republican-leaning 3rd District, is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, 52 Democratic deficit hawks who fear the current version of the reform bill is too expensive and does too little to rein in health costs.
In an interview last week, Moore called the bill a “work in progress” that should not be rushed to meet an August deadline set by President Barack Obama, which Senate Democratic leaders have already said they won’t be able to meet.
“I want to get it (reform) done, but I want to get it done right,” Moore said. “And I don’t want an artificial deadline.”
Moore and the Blue Dogs have made it clear they will oppose any attempt by Democratic leaders to bypass a final committee vote and send the measure to the floor ahead of the House’s annual August recess, which is scheduled to begin Friday.
“I think there will be push back, with all due respect to Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi,” he said.
Moore was among 40 Blue Dogs who sent a strongly worded letter to Pelosi on July 9. Coalition members said they would not support the reform bill unless it was bipartisan, deficit neutral and slowed the growth of health care costs.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has said that the House reform bill would over 10 years increase the federal budget deficit by $239 billion.
“We do not support health care reform that is not deficit neutral,” coalition members said in the letter.
Last week Blue Dog negotiators appeared to win a cost-cutting concession when House leaders agreed to the creation of an independent commission to set Medicare rates. But over the weekend, CBO said the proposal, which is opposed by the Kansas Hospital Association, would save only about $2 billion over 10 years.
About 44 million Americans and 416,000 Kansans, most of them over 65, are covered by Medicare. The program’s $450 billion annual cost accounts for about one-fifth of the nation’s health care spending.
As long as negotiations continue, Moore said he remains hopeful that a bipartisan agreement can be struck on a plan to provide coverage to the approximately 47 million Americans who are uninsured. To get an agreement, Moore said he and his fellow Democrats must remain flexible.
Flexible on public plan
For instance, Moore said while he supports including a public insurance option in the bill, he’s willing to look at alternatives if Republican opposition proves insurmountable.
“I’m pretty flexible here,” he said. “I want to see something that works.”
Across the rotunda, a Democratic senator working with a handful of Senate Finance Committee members on a bipartisan compromise also is urging flexibility. Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said on Sunday that despite their 10-vote majority, Democrats aren’t sufficiently united to pass a reform bill on their own.
“It’s not possible and perhaps not desirable either,” Conrad said on ABC’s “This Week.”
A big sticking point in the negotiations has been how to pay for reform. Some Republicans favor taxing health care benefits above a certain threshold. The bill backed by House Democrats proposes a new tax on wealthy Americans.
Moore said he would like to avoid a tax increase if possible.
“It may not be possible,” he said. “But if it is, I want to find a way to do it.”
If a tax increase is necessary, Moore said he, like President Obama, prefers that it be levied only on those who make more than $1 million a year.
Kansas Republican members of Congress are generally opposed to the health reform bills as they currently are written. Sen. Pat Roberts, 2nd District Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins and 1st District Congressman Jerry Moran have been the most vocal about their concerns. Like Moore, they have complained about the costs of the current proposals. Unlike Moore, they are solidly against creating a government insurance program to compete with private insurance companies.
-Jim McLean is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. He can be reached at jmclean@khi.org or at 785-233-5443, ext. 110.