WASHINGTON — In the face of mounting Republican opposition to its healthcare agenda, the Obama administration received a boost Wednesday, winning a preliminary agreement with leading hospital groups to cut federal payments to the industry over the next decade.
Under the plan, negotiated primarily by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), hospitals would accept $155 billion in cuts if the administration and its congressional allies succeeded in extending health insurance to tens of millions of people who are now without coverage.
None of the hospital groups has signed a written agreement backing the cuts, nor is there any guarantee that the cuts will be included in versions of the healthcare legislation being developed by lawmakers other than Baucus.
"We have agreements on specific points, and the understanding is that if those points materialize, that's great," said Rich Umbdenstock, who heads the American Hospital Assn. "If they don't, we're back in discussions."
In one potentially ominous sign Wednesday, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) said House leaders would not be bound by an agreement with the pharmaceutical industry that was announced by the White House last month.
But the pledges from hospital leaders may help galvanize support for the healthcare overhaul at a key moment.
Senior Democrats are struggling to draft legislation that would not drive up the national debt but still accomplish the main goals of expanding health coverage, controlling costs and improving the quality of care.
Vice President Joe Biden deemed the hospital accord a sign of progress and called for enactment of healthcare legislation by the end of August.
"We have these hospitals working with us, and we have the pharmaceutical industry working with us. We have doctors and nurses and healthcare providers with us. We have the American public behind us," said Biden, who was standing in for President Obama, who is overseas. "Things remain on track. . . . And, in my view, we're going to get that change, and we're going to get it this year."
Baucus and the White House have been working intensely for months to enlist industry support for the overhaul, in part to help offset the cost of the expanded coverage, which many expect to top $1 trillion over the next 10 years.
