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Source: Omaha World Herald
WASHINGTON — Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., said Thursday that he isn’t giving up on the possibility of bipartisan health care legislation.
After months of negotiations, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., recently announced that he was moving forward with a health care bill without the support of any GOP senators.
But Nelson said it’s too early to “write the obituary for bipartisanship.”
There will be plenty of opportunities in the Finance Committee and on the Senate floor to craft a bill that can attract Republican support, he said.
The Nebraska senator issued a joint statement Thursday with three of his centrist colleagues, Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine.
The senators commended Baucus for his efforts and said members of both parties have a responsibility to work together.
They noted a laundry list of proposals that “we all agree on.”
Those include barring health insurance discrimination based on pre-existing conditions, boosting prevention and wellness programs, paying for quality in health care rather than quantity and improving health provider training programs.
“While we each have outstanding concerns we wish to see addressed, Senator Baucus has taken an important and critical step forward with this legislation, which is budget neutral and reduces future health care costs according to (the Congressional Budget Office),” the senators wrote.
But several Republican senators, including Nebraska’s Mike Johanns, harshly criticized the Baucus proposal on Thursday for its expansion of Medicaid, which states would be called on to support financially.
Citing his experience as governor of Nebraska, Johanns said he knows how a state’s Medicaid costs seem to grow exponentially.
The expansion of Medicaid included in Baucus’ proposal would seriously affect Nebraska’s state budget, Johanns said.
He estimated the annual impact to Nebraska in the tens of millions of dollars and said it could result in higher taxes or cuts in other state services.
In a letter this week to Nebraska’s congressional delegation, Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman also expressed concern about the Medicaid provisions in Baucus’ bill and what they would do to the state’s finances.
“This proposal is not in Nebraska’s best interests,” Heineman wrote.
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