7 months ago
WASHINGTON D.C. (NBC)-- Today President Obama tries to re-energize his health care push. He'll point to the AARP, Americans fifty and older, as a reform ally. "Health care costs are just killing American competitiveness and they are really putting a squeeze on employers. So we think there is an urgency in health care reform," said Jim Dau of AARP.
Also demanding action is drugmakers' big lobby known as Pharma, and the US Chamber of Commerce. They're now in sync with the liberal group that in an ad slams critics' call to slow down. Half a dozen Senators on the Finance Committee, Republicans and Democrats, sound determined. "The group of six really wants to get to yes," said Sen. Max Baucus of Montana. Their latest compromise would drop a requirement that employers offer health coverage. It would tax insurers for top-of-the-line plans, and take the government out of the so-called public plan, making it a non-profit co-op.
That wins critical GOP support. "It's safe to say that it's probably one that will remain in the final document," said Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine.
Negotiators predict the plan's final cost would be under one trillion dollars but house critics worry. "What really concerns me about this plan is Washington's history of underestimating costs of expensive plans like this," said Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina.
Still no agreement and no votes planned.
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