House Democrats Reach Agreement on Health Care Bill
Paul Kane House Democrats announced a deal Wednesday afternoon on health-care reform that would allow a key committee to finish its consideration of the $1 trillion legislation on Friday Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) said the deal would cut $100 billion from the cost of the legislation and would not pay health-care providers based on Medicare reimbursement rates, which conservative Democrats say pays rural hospitals disproportionately low rates compared to urban areas. Rep. Henry Waxman (Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said his panel would resume its previously stalled legislative markup of health-care reform legislation Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. Conservative Democrats on the panel, who had held up the final deliberation, also announced the deal, contingent on the provision that no final vote on the full House floor take place until September. Four of the seven Democratic holdouts agreed to the deal, giving enough votes for Waxman to pass the legislation from his committee. |
