By Emily P. Walker
MedPage Today, December 16, 2009
WASHINGTON — In an earnest but doomed attempt to create a single-payer healthcare system, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) brought up a Medicare-for-all amendment to the healthcare reform bill on Wednesday, but was forced to withdraw it in the face of Republican stalling tactics.
Sanders, the chamber’s only vocal proponent of a national health insurance program, introduced an amendment to create just that — and expand coverage to every U.S. citizen.
“Every American — 100%, not 94% — would have health insurance,” he said in an impassioned speech on the Senate floor.
He referred to the current Senate bill, which would expand coverage to 94% of legal U.S. citizens, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Sanders said his amendment would save $350 billion in administrative expenses by eliminating private insurance companies from the picture.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), an ob/gyn, demanded that the 776-page amendment be read by Senate clerks — a move that is always an option, but very rarely invoked. Coburn complained that he hadn’t seen Sanders’ amendment before it was brought to the floor.
The reading began at noon and continued on for several hours until Sanders withdrew the measure, ending a monotone afternoon read-a-thon that further delayed work on the healthcare measure. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) estimated that reading the whole amendment would have taken 10 hours.
After withdrawing the amendment, Sanders delivered a few more pointed words in favor of loosening the insurance industry’s grasp on medical care and the need for universal coverage.
“A Medicare-for-all program is the way to go,” he said. “And I know it’s not going to pass today. I know we don’t have the votes. I know the insurance company and the drug lobbyists will fight us.
“But mark my words . . . the day will come when this country will do the right thing. And on that day, we will pass a Medicare-for-all single-payer system.”
David Himmelstein, MD, the national spokesperson for Physicians for a National Heath Program, told MedPage Today he wasn’t surprised by the maneuvering that blocked the amendment from coming up for a vote.
“It’s another in a long line of bizarre dancing that Congress has been engaged in that distract from debating the issues,” said Himmelstein, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard. “The whole debate has been a circus and sounds like another side show in the circus.”
Himmelstein said he agrees with Sanders that meaningful reform can only be achieved with a single-payer system because there is too much waste in the private insurance industry.
He criticized the current reform effort for “dumping hundreds of billions of dollars into the private insurance industry for a short term gain.”
He said the current debate “is akin to debating whether you ought to use aspirin or Tylenol for someone with cancer.”
After Sanders’ amendment, the Senate took up a defense spending measure.
It is appearing less and less likely that the Senate will vote on healthcare reform before Christmas, which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said is his goal.
Reid has yet to introduce his manager’s amendment, which will include a series of changes to the older version of the healthcare bill.
Republicans can again request that the amendment be read aloud. Hoping to avoid that, Democrat leaders have told the GOP that the amendment will be available publicly for at least 72 hours before it’s brought up on the floor.
http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/Washington-Watch/17585