Senate Liberals and Republicans Spar Over Health Insurance Bill

Strategic Insights -

Senate liberals and Republicans are engaged in a strategic game over the passage of Senator George J. Mitchell's health insurance bill. Despite their differences, liberals are coalescing around a strategy of defending the bill on the Senate floor while hoping to achieve a more favorable outcome in a House-Senate conference committee. Meanwhile, some Senate Republicans fear that if health legislation makes it into a conference, Democrats will sell them out and accept the House bill.

Key Takeaways:

  • Senator George J. Mitchell's health insurance bill is facing opposition from liberal senators who want to strengthen its provisions, including moving toward universal coverage sooner and enhancing its benefit package.
  • Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri has advised liberal groups to relax and wait out the Congressional process, saying that they "can't get a good bill if Mitchell can't get a bill at all."
  • Some Senate Republicans fear that if health legislation makes it into a Senate-House conference, Democrats will sell them out and accept the House bill, which would require employers to pay 80 percent of their workers' premiums for health insurance, starting in 1997.
  • Two moderate Democrats, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman and Senator Bob Kerrey, have voiced opposition to the Mitchell bill, with Senator Kerrey suggesting that the President should meet with Republican moderates and make a deal with them.
  • The American Association of Retired Persons (A.A.R.P.) is polling its board about its position on the Mitchell and Gephardt bills, with a preference for the Gephardt bill.
  • A.F.L.-C.I.O. erupted angrily against the Mitchell bill, but Representative Gephardt assured the group supporting universal coverage that only after both Houses had passed their own bills could there be a House-Senate conference to strike a compromise.

Statistics:

  • 50 percent: the share of workers' premiums that employers would pay from 2002 under the Mitchell bill.
  • 80 percent: the share of workers' premiums that employers would pay starting in 1997 under the House bill.
  • 72 percent: the share of workers' premiums that the Federal Government currently pays for its workers, including members of Congress.
  • 1992: the year in which Senator Bob Kerrey campaigned for a universal health-insurance plan in which the Federal Government would pay most of the bills.
  • June 29: the date on which Republicans announced a health care plan that Senator Phil Gramm said would involve a "Government-run collective."

Sources:

  • Mitchell, George J. "Health Insurance Bill". Senate.
  • Gephardt, Richard A. Interview. Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (MO).
  • Kristol, William. Interview. William Kristol, Republican Theoretician.
  • Lieberman, Joseph I. Statement. Senator Joseph I. Lieberman (CT).
  • Kerrey, Bob. Statement. Senator Bob Kerrey (NE).
  • Gramm, Phil. Statement. Senator Phil Gramm (TX).
  • Clinton, Bill. Presidential Address. CNN.
  • Rother, John. Interview. John Rother, Legislative Director, American Association of Retired Persons.
  • AFL-CIO. Statement. AFL-CIO.
  • Mitchell, George J. Press Conference. Senator George J. Mitchell (ME).