Senate Health Committee Approves Reform Bill Along Party Lines

The bill also calls for:

• Prohibiting insurers from denying applicants coverage based on their health status.
• Promoting higher quality of care through health insurance policies that include financial incentives as rewards for providers involved in using, for instance, care coordination, chronic disease management, and medical error reduction.
• Coverage of preventive health services.
• Extending coverage for dependent adults, with all individual and group coverage policies being required to continue offering dependent coverage for children until the child turns age 26.
• No lifetime or annual limits on the dollar value limits of individual or group health insurance policies.

The bill also places emphasis on promoting access to and delivery of care—especially in low income, underserved, minority or rural populations. A variety of grants, student loans, training programs, and recruitment initiatives are emphasized, as well as the role of nurses in providing care—especially in medically underserved areas.

How the bill's provisions will play on the Senate floor later this summer will remain to be seen. Speaking to reporters later, Republican members appeared angry that they could only propose amendments to the bill. Ranking minority member, Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY), had harsh words—giving the final bill an "F" for failing, he said, to accomplish the President's goals of lowering costs and not driving up the deficit.

The bill would still leave 34 million uninsured, and would add potentially a trillion dollar debt in the U.S., said Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH). "The president threw out the first pitch (Tuesday) night at the All Star Game but (Wednesday) the Democratic members of the health committee struck out on the issues of the President's initiatives on healthcare."