Discord on Health Care Dulls Luster Of New Pacts (ObamaCare bursts into flames)

Vice President Biden, with the American Hospital Association's Rich Umbdenstock, discusses a deal with hospitals on health-care reform. (By Ron Edmonds -- Associated Press)

The Obama administration, hoping to boost its health-care reform effort with financial concessions from the hospital and pharmaceutical industries, is instead confronting deep dissension on several fronts within Democratic ranks and possible defections among key constituencies.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), lead House architect of the landmark health legislation, warned yesterday that he is not obligated to abide by deals struck recently by the White House, Senate Finance Committee, industry executives and interest groups such as AARP.

"The White House is not bound. They tell us they're not bound by that agreement," Waxman, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said at a National Journal breakfast. "We're certainly not bound by that agreement. The White House was involved, and we were not."

Harry Reid says no to taxing health benefits

By CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN & PATRICK O'CONNOR

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid tried his best Wednesday to soften some of the toughest talk of the day before on health care - meeting with Republicans in hopes of showing bipartisanship on the issue isn't dead.

But taxing health benefits to pay for an overhaul? That's still dead, Democratic leaders made clear again Wednesday.

And another thing that's increasingly in doubt: any hopes of getting a health reform bill voted out of the Senate by August, a byproduct of the leadership's decision to lay down the law on finding a new way to pay for it.

Reid's move blows a gigantic hole in efforts to find $1 trillion to pay for health reform - and set off a scramble Wednesday to come up with a replacement for the suddenly missing $320 billion over 10 years.

And if Democrats thought taxing health benefits was unpopular, the second-least-popular idea might be a tough sell, too - a straight-up income tax hike on people making more than $250,000 a year. That idea gained new currency in the Senate and the House Wednesday in part because it would not divide the Democratic base as much as taxing health benefits, which could hit the middle class, and unions strongly oppose it.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24724.html#ixzz0KnJlh1LQ&D

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.