Senate Democrats move on healthcare

By Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- A leading Senate Democrat rolled out a sweeping healthcare plan today, signalling that Democratic leaders in Congress intend to aggressively pursue significant -- and probably expensive -- healthcare legislation despite an expanding federal deficit and President-elect Barack Obama's intense focus on the ailing economy.

Senator Max Baucus of Montana, the head of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, unveiled an 89-page policy proposal that in many ways resembled the one Obama put forward during the campaign, with an important difference -- it requires everyone to buy health insurance. In that respect, it is even more like the plan Massachusetts enacted in 2006 than Obama's, which did not include an individual mandate.

Both Baucus and Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, have been working for months to lay the groundwork for major healthcare legislation, holding hearings and informal talks with business groups, providers, and consumer advocates.

Kennedy, who is fighting brain cancer but plans to return to Capitol Hill in January, plans to offer a single Democratic healthcare bill by Obama's Jan. 20 inauguration. Today Kennedy issued a statement praising Baucus's blueprint, saying it provides "an important analysis of the urgent need for significant improvements in our health care system, and thoughtful recommendations for reform."

Baucus told reporters that Kennedy called him with "very complimentary" comments this morning. Advocates for health reform said their clear interest in collaboration boded well.

"Senator Baucus and Senator Kennedy have really laid the groundwork for getting this done," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a national organization for healthcare consumers.

The senators' urgency reflects the Democrats' determination to avoid mistakes that ruined the Clinton administration's attempt to pass major health care legislation in 1993, when controversies over gays in the military and trade distracted attention from the healthcare issue and undermined public support for the new administration. Democrats believe they must move quickly to capitalize on Obama's honeymoon period.

Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to Obama, said today that while fixing the economy will be the top priority when Obama takes office, he still plans to follow through on major, sweeping campaign promises, including healthcare reform.

"Clearly there's a need for healthcare," she said on "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer" on PBS. "And I think that throughout the campaign, what President-elect Obama heard time and time again is the importance of affordable health care for everybody."

Despite the country's enormous economic problems, the political landscape will be somewhat better for Democrats than it was 16 years ago. With health costs spiralling, businesses of all sizes have joined the call for comprehensive health reform. Both the National Business Roundtable, which represents the country's largest businesses, and the National Federation of Independent Business, joined with the AARP and the Service Employees International Union during the campaign season and launched a massive campaign to call for health reform.

Today, Amanda Austin, a senior manager of legislative affairs for the NFIB, which represents small businesses, said her organization was encouraged by the Baucus plan's "holistic approach" to addressing not only healthcare access but costs.

She said she was optimistic about health reform happening early in the Obama administration because of the strong desire on the part of the public for health reform, the new administration's interest in the issue and the work of Kennedy and Baucus.

"It's the perfect storm, and I'm hopeful that President-elect Obama can hold on to both sides of that and find time in the first year while there is that momentum to look at it," she said.

The need for the plan is also greater: there are nearly 47 million Americans without health insurance, and another 25 million who are underinsured.