After a month-long period of hibernation, health care reform is suddenly awake and in the headlines again, signaling that the Democrats’ signature policy initiative is far from dead. So what happened? Was a new breakthrough reached? And is health care reform now on the fast track? The answer to both questions is, basically, No.
There’s one main reason for the flurry of activity, and that is Thursday’s health care summit. In advance of that event, the White House has unveiled a proposal–a series of tweaks to the Senate health care bill–which it hopes can push health care reform over the finish line. But that package isn’t a new way forward. Rather, it’s the result of weeks of negotiations between House and Senate leaders and the White House.
“We had a lot of momentum going in to the [health care summit],” says a Senate leadership aide. “Everyone knew this was the only option in front of us but Obama really forced the hands, of everybody, to come together.”
And lest you think that the wave of health care developments signals that important votes are imminent, think again. On a local news show in Nevada this weekend, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Senate will pass a budget reconciliation bill amending its health care bill “in the next 60 days.”
Sixty days could mean that the last health care push might not happen until the next work period this spring. But Senate aides caution that other issues–particularly multiple jobs bills–are first in line, and that the reconciliation process must start in the House, meaning they can’t vote on a reconciliation bill until the House passes a reconciliation bill and sends it over to the upper chamber.
So health care is certainly grabbing headlines once again, and the House and Senate have come a long way toward resolving their differences. But for the most part nothing has changed, and a lot of work remains to be done before health care passes–if in fact it can.
