New Jersey's U.S. senators and other advocates of a government-managed insurance plan are increasing their pressure on Congress to include the so-called public option in health care reform legislation.
The state's Republican House members and groups such as the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce oppose the public option as a potentially wasteful and inefficient intrusion by government into the private health care industry. The criticism has been so pointed that even public-option supporters like Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., have rejected the idea, saying no Republican is likely to support it.
President Barack Obama, who pushed for the public option while campaigning for the presidency, says the overall goal of health care reform is to cover more of the 47 million people who lack insurance, not just to create a public option.
New Jersey Sens. Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg joined 28 other Democrats on Thursday in urging Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada to include the public option in a measure expected to reach the Senate floor before year's end.
"We have spent the better part of this year fighting for health reform that would provide insurance access and continuity to every American in a fiscally responsible manner," they wrote in a letter to Reid. "We are concerned that absent a competitive and continuous public insurance option, health reform legislation will not produce nationwide access and ongoing cost containment."
They also noted that a majority of Democrats are in favor of a public option.
The letter comes as the Senate Finance Committee prepares to vote on its 10-year, $829-billion, plan, which rejects the public option in favor of a concept called insurance cooperatives, in which small business, for instance, could join together to negotiate with insurers for lower premiums.
Menendez, who sits on that committee, voted for two public-option proposals when panel members were considering the measure. But the plans didn't get enough votes to pass the committee. Baucus voted against both plans, citing the entrenched political opposition.
A separate proposal that passed the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in the summer does call for a public option.
The Finance and HELP committee proposals now have to be merged into one bill that will be brought to the Senate floor for a vote, a job that falls to Reid.
New Jersey supporters for a public option include Democratic Reps. Frank J. Pallone Jr. and Rob Andrews, who contend that a public option would not require tax expenditures as critics allege.
A House health care plan they helped craft calls for the public option to be funded in other ways, such as through penalties paid by employers who don't offer coverage to their employees.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., maintains that the final bill will include a public option.
Liberal New Jersey advocates are rallying around a report showing that a House health care bill, which includes the option, would cover an additional 1 million New Jerseyans. The report, by the liberal think tank New Jersey Policy Perspective, showed that under the House proposal:
Low- and middle-income state residents would receive an additional $34 billion in subsidies over the next 10 years.
Small businesses could share about $1.3 billion in tax credits aimed at helping employers cover more of their workers.
A prescription drug coverage gap in Medicare — the so-called "doughnut hole" — would be closed, lowering the cost of prescriptions for senior citizens.
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March 12, 2024