WASHINGTON — A top House Democrat said Sunday he thinks Congress will pass a health care bill, but three fellow Democrats who opposed overhaul legislation last fall aren’t committing themselves to backing President Barack Obama’s late push.
The House and the Senate approved different version of the legislation by narrow margins. Merging the bills became more complicated when Senate Democrats lost their filibuster-proof majority in January. House members are reluctant to approve the Senate plan on the promise that senators will tinker with provisions House members find objectionable.
Still, that wobbly bridge appeared to be the clearest path to meeting Obama’s goal of Congress passing a health care bill by March 18, when he leaves on a trip to Asia. Central to success is persuading some House members who voted against the original legislation to go along with the Senate bill.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., who heads the House Democrats’ campaign team, said House members are waiting to see the final plan and how the Congressional Budget Office analyzes its budget implications before deciding whether to support it.
“I believe it will pass. Do we have a mortal lock? No,” Van Hollen said.
Three House Democrats who voted against the bill — Brian Baird of Washington, Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania and John Adler of New Jersey — appeared open to considering changing their votes, but none of them committed to supporting the Senate legislation.
“The complexity, I think, worries a lot of people,” Baird, said. “And when you read these bills, they are very long, very complicated, because they build on an existing complicated system.
“And it’s not really a system. It’s a hodgepodge of (programs). . . . That worries a lot of people, and, frankly, it troubles me.”
Altmire, D-Pa., sounded the most optimistic. He said the Senate bill was better legislation overall, particularly in dealing with cost containment, but he added that he wanted to see the CBO’s analysis.
“In the end, I have to make a decision between passing this bill — this is the finish line — or doing nothing,” Altmire said.
Rep. John Adler, D-N.J., said he would not support a bill that doesn’t help businesses deal with rising insurance costs and create more jobs.
“I’m not sure we’ve gone far enough in terms of fixing the underlying system to make it affordable for businesses and for taxpayers,” Adler said.
Last week, Obama said he’s open to incorporating proposals advanced by Republicans, as congressional Democrats neared a final push to enact legislation.
“What the American people would like us to do is not make this gargantuan mistake,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Sunday on ABC. “Every election this fall will be a referendum on this bill.”
At stake in the legislation is a plan that would give insurers such as Aetna Inc. and drugmakers including Merck & Co. millions of new customers while requiring them to contribute to the revamp.
The bill would require Americans to get insurance with the aid of purchasing exchanges and subsidies.
