House and Senate Will Not Vote on Health Reform Until September at the Earliest
The Facts
Neither the House nor the Senate will pass health reform legislation before adjourning for the summer recess. Despite a breakthrough deal yesterday with fiscally conservative Democrats that allowed the House Energy and Commerce Committee to resume markup of its health reform bill on July 30, 2009, health reform legislation will not be considered on the House floor until September, at the earliest, according to House leadership. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced July 23, 2009, that health reform legislation also will not be considered on the Senate floor until after the summer recess. The Senate delay is intended to give a bipartisan group of Senate Finance Committee members additional time to negotiate a bipartisan health reform proposal. Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) announced July 29, 2009, that the group of six Finance Committee senators working behind closed doors are nearing an agreement. Chairman Baucus hopes for a near-term agreement from the bipartisan talks, which could allow for a public committee markup of the agreement the week of August 3, 2009, the final week the Senate is scheduled to be in session prior to recess.
What’s at Stake
Passage of systemic health reform, which is expected to make sweeping changes to the health sector, is at stake. While the president had earlier pressed for passage by the House and Senate before the August congressional recess, the president's rhetoric has recently recalibrated and now both he and congressional leaders speak of passing health system reform by the end of the year. However, these delays will make completion of health reform legislation this year a challenge. An enormous amount of work remains before a bill can be ready for the president's signature, and there now will be a short amount of time in which to complete that work.
Steps to Consider
Watch for the emerging Finance Committee bipartisan agreement and evaluate how its concepts would affect your operation. Contrast the impact of the bill approved by the Senate HELP Committee and House committees and the expected Finance bipartisan agreement. Assess the impact of the bills working their way through the House.
