Congressional Dems Eye Health Care Funding Options

 

Thursday, Jul 09,2009, 10:42:43 AM   Click:

Senate negotiators are seeking new ways to pay for a review of health insurance in the United States after recent polls showed many Americans opposed to his financing by taxes on employer health insurance , a senator said Tuesday.

A recent New York Times / CBS News poll found that only 20 percent of respondents supported the tax and the Washington Post / ABC News poll 70 percent opposed it. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey 54 percent of respondents oppose the new tax.

The survey was a setback for many lawmakers who believe the tax on the best way to raise hundreds of billions of dollars to pay for health care reform.

"When you get numbers like that, it certainly causes you to look for alternatives," said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-North Dakota.

Conrad is chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and leads a Finance subcommittee on taxation. He said the proposal is unpopular because most Americans are not aware of the value of their employer-provided health benefits and don't know if they will be subject to the new tax.

He gave few clues to possible alternatives, but said, "We are searching for options, and there are a fair number of them that can work."

Taxing sugary drinks, something House Democrats have pushed, is out because "there are a lot of members who don't like it," Conrad said. But lowering tax deductions for wealthier Americans, something advocated by President Obama, is still under consideration.

Most of the tax options are related to the health sector, Conrad said. New ideas were raised Tuesday during a meeting with congressional negotiators.

The idea of taxing health care benefits has been controversial since it was proposed. Obama has never fully supported it, and many key Senate Democrats have opposed it outright. Even so, Conrad didn't rule it out, saying the tax remains "viable" while senators seek other options.


Meanwhile, a new surtax on Americans who make more than $250,000, the sugary drinks tax and increasing the Medicare payroll tax were among the proposals for funding health care reform discussed by Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee.

Rep. Charles Rangel, the committee's chairman, said "all of the above" and more were covered during an all-day meeting at his Capitol Hill office, but declined to give details.

The House Democrats' draft legislation includes a government-run health care plan to compete with private insurers. Complicating discussions on how to pay for their health care plan is the fact that the Congressional Budget Office has not yet released a price for the legislation, because it is in draft form.

House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson, a Connecticut congressman who sits on the tax-writing committee, declined to comment on specific tax proposals, saying "most things are on the table." But he flatly said a tax on employer health benefits "is not on the table."

Larson said the committee members hoped to reach an agreement Tuesday night. Maryland Democrat Chris Van Hollen said members were also discussing how Medicare savings could offset the cost of reform.