Sanders not quitting on single-payer
By Nicole Gaudiano, Free Press Washington Writer
WASHINGTON — As the spotlight on health care reform shifts from the House to the more conservative Senate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., will be pushing for a hard left turn in the form of a single-payer system.
The Vermont independent acknowledges that a plan to create a national single-payer system like Canada’s, in which the federal government would be the only source of financing for all health care services, isn’t politically viable.
But he could have enough leverage to win approval of a more limited approach when Democrats begin scrambling for the 60 votes they need to overcome a possible Republican filibuster of the health care bill. Sanders is trying to include a provision in the bill that would allow each state to create its own single-payer system.
A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid would not comment about whether the provision will be included in the Senate bill. Reid is awaiting cost estimates of the Senate bill before beginning debate.
Sanders said his proposal has “a shot to win.”
“We are quietly making some progress,” he said Monday.
He also has requested a vote on a national single-payer system, which even he predicts would fail.
“But I think it’s important we have it, because I think there are many millions of Americans who understand … that is the only solution to providing comprehensive, universal, cost-effective health care to all Americans,” Sanders said.
The House passed its version of a health-care-reform bill late Saturday, 220-215. Only one Republican voted for it.
That bill includes a government-run public health-insurance option, which members of Vermont’s congressional delegation see as an effective way to create competition with private insurers and bring down costs.
Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., voted for the bill but said the public-option provision was weaker than he had wanted. He would have preferred an option that pays doctors and hospitals based on Medicare rates.
Welch said he hasn’t decided how he would vote if a final health care bill comes back to the House without a public option.
“I’m going to wait and see on that,” he said during a conference call Monday. “It’s hard for me to get enthusiastic about a bill that doesn’t have a public option that provides choice for the consumer and competition for the insurance companies.”
Reid has said the Senate bill will include a public option, but states could decide not to offer it.
Sanders called that “a pretty weak option” and said he’d work to strengthen it.
“It’s not just that I want to see as many people as possible get it,” he said. “That option is important in terms of controlling health costs.”
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said including a public option in a final bill would be worth the price of an opt-out provision for states. Constituents want the public option, he said.
“I can’t conceive of Vermont opting out,” he said. “Most states won’t, because they’ll want the competition.”
Contact Free Press Washington Writer Nicole Gaudiano at ngaudiano@gannett.com.