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Thanks. The author of that article is wrong. Here is an article right after the senate passed their bill, which explains that the DEMOCRATS chose not to have a conference, and the GOP was complaining about them not having a conference:

Democrats are "almost certain" to bypass the conference process to pass a merged health care bill through both chambers of Congress, according to two senior Democratic Hill staffers (one from the House and one from the Senate), The New Republic's Jonathan Cohn reports--a decision that will likely fuel some GOP attacks on health reform.
Instead of convening a formal conference committee--where a handful of lawmakers of both parties from the House and Senate negotiate to hammer out a final bill--Democrats from the both chambers will likely meet privately, without Republicans, to finalize a bill that will be sent back to each chamber for final passage.
Doing so would allow Democrats to get the bill done faster, in the face of probably GOP stalling tactics. Democrats are looking to put a bill on President Obama's desk before he delivers a State of the Union address (having missed the previous August and Christmas deadlines), and Republicans have indicated for some time that it's their goal to do everything in their power to block the bill.

Since having a conference would have certainly led to a bill that the Senate wouldn't pass, and would have forced public hearing of all the fights between the house and senate, it would make NO SENSE for the GOP to block a house/senate conference.