Finance Committee announces healthcare hearing in September

[turbinetree]

Source: The Hill

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) announced Thursday that the panel will hold a healthcare hearing in September, in the wake of a failed vote on repeal of ObamaCare.

The hearing will be a chance for members of both parties to discuss the health law and it comes amid calls for a return to regular order and the committee process.

The HELP committee is expected to take the lead role in crafting a bipartisan bill aimed at stabilizing the ObamaCare marketplaces, but the announcement indicates that the Finance Committee, which shares jurisdiction on healthcare, will also discuss the issue.

Still, Hatch noted that the “main priority” of the committee in the fall will be tax reform.
“We’ve also heard a lot of demands from members of the committee for a healthcare hearing,” Hatch said at the opening of a Finance Committee hearing on Thursday. “I intend to do that as well at some point shortly after the recess.”

Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/345134-finance-committee-announces-healthcare-hearing-in-september

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There should two questions to be presented by democrats for discussion, nothing else:

1. What is the CBO score for Single Payer / Universal Coverage / Medicare for all in this country?

2. What is the costs per person in this country to have Single payer / Universal Coverage / Medicare when compared to "all" of the insurance programs now ?


None of this lets see what "block grants can do or any other BS............


This set of hearing will in my opinion determine who wins 2018 and 2020, time to go to a hearings and making some calls and to go to town hall meetings in force....................

US Capitol Switchboard [phone]

[geek tragedy]

1. Democrats' main priority is to make sure people keep their health care

and that it remains as affordable as possible. That means working with the majority party on some deal that will preserve the CSRs.

grandstanding on single payer is not an immediate priority.

They can't do anything to bring about single payer right now. They certainly can do something to help people who need help right now.

[turbinetree]

2. Point taken, but this is not grand standing, this is reality

costs are costs, and no where have I seen a graph showing what a CBO score would be for single payer nowhere.
I have seen how one amendment will cause people to lose this and how many.

They still want block grants that is why they want hearings

[geek tragedy]

5. Sanders will introduce a Medicare for all bill, and that will/should get a CBO score

IF it has enough details and numbers tied to it.

CBO scores proposals with specific terms and numbers, not abstract concepts.

[Voltaire2]

8. It isn't grandstanding to present alternative programs.

If we limit our party to only making proposals that Republicans will accept then we might as well be Republicans.

[geek tragedy]

9. not saying they shouldn't do any of that, but job #1 is preserving coverage and affordability nt

[lapucelle]

3. None of the Medicare for All/single payer bills

that have been introduced this year or in years past have ever been scored by the CBO.

HR 676
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/676?r=1
HR 1200
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/1200?r=1
S 1782
https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/senate-bill/1782/text

[BumRushDaShow]

7. They really need to do that

because for the rubber to meet the road, you gotta know how a push for that will be argued. And in general, it would probably result in a large "up front" cost for setting it up before the costs theoretically would drop with the population being "less sick" over the long term as a result of access to care early on.

I think this is why the other push to get to single payer via the transition step of the "Public Option", where the government would be able to ramp up as a provider and eventually phase-in a Medicare for all model.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. "Hatch noted that the main priority of the committee in the fall will be tax reform."

And I expect THAT is what the GOP members will obsess over in the "healthcare" hearings. I.e., how to get rid of the taxes on the rich that help to fund the ACA, and then find the funding to stabilize the marketplace from somewhere else (e.g., the "pay-fors" would come from CUTS to all the other "safety net" provisions).

[LovingA2andMI]

6. Would Love To See Single Payer/Universal Health Care -- But The Reality Is....

We (Democrats) don't control Congress right now. So, the solution to #ACA issues must be done on a Bipartisan basis. #TheResistance was successful stopping #TrumpDeathCare and taking this process on fixing #ACA to the HELP Committee is the RIGHT WAY to began discussions on this important issue for millions of Americans.

If anything happens in the next 1 and 1/2 to fix ACA it will take BIPARTISAN AGREEMENTS in Congress, to do so. Glad to see at this point and time, the CORRECT PROCESS is being followed.