Senate Health Committee

Re "A bill for patients," editorial, Aug. 11 Patients facing terminal illness need information based on who they are as individuals, not an intrusion into their relationship with their doctor. California's AB 2747 interferes with the care of people receiving the worst news of their lives. Sponsored by a group promoting physician-assisted suicide, the bill mandates doctors to give government-specified information to terminally ill patients. As an oral surgeon, I can't imagine giving a dying patient a government dictate of what they need to hear.

The Senate filibuster has emerged as the bane of President Obama's legislative agenda, igniting anger among liberals over a tactic that is now hogtying Congress even on noncontroversial bills. The threat of filibusters has become so common that congressional leaders take it for granted that any bill of consequence will not pass the 100-member Senate with a simple majority of 51. Instead, 60 votes -- the number needed to cut off the interminable speeches of a filibuster -- has become the minimum required.

Providing a major boost to Democrats pushing for a health overhaul, Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe -- the most watched lawmaker in Washington right now -- has announced that she will back a sweeping healthcare bill being debated by the Senate Finance Committee. "When history calls, history calls," she said in announcing her plans after a long recitation of the problems confronting the American healthcare system, including rising costs and the swelling ranks of the uninsured.

Senate Democratic leaders, scrambling for the 60 votes they need to pass the healthcare overhaul bill, moved Monday to strike a controversial proposal for expanding Medicare and proceed without a new government insurance program, the so-called public option. "It's a matter of getting 60 senators," Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) told reporters after an evening meeting of the Democratic caucus in which party leaders stressed the urgency of getting a final Senate vote by next week.

It is truly unfortunate when our representative in Sacramento place demands of a powerful special interest over the opportunity to prevent birth defects. Yet, that is exactly what six Senate Health Committee members have done. Birth defects caused by alcohol are the single most common preventable birth defect in the United States today. The effects range from low birth weight to mental retardation and major deformities of the head and face. Sen. Hart's bill to place birth defect warnings on alcohol containers has won the support of every major public health and consumer group in the state, not to mention the major lobbies on both sides of the abortion issue.

Senate Democrats pushing healthcare legislation received a boost from the Congressional Budget Office today as the much-watched nonpartisan agency estimated that a bill being debated by the Senate Finance Committee would cost $829 billion over the next decade. The budget experts also concluded that the bill sponsored by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), would help reduce the overhaul federal deficit by $81 billion by 2019, as additional spending to expand coverage would be offset by cuts and new revenue.

The Senate filibuster has emerged as the bane of President Obama's legislative agenda, igniting anger among liberals over a tactic that is now hogtying Congress even on noncontroversial bills. The threat of filibusters has become so common that congressional leaders take it for granted that any bill of consequence will not pass the 100-member Senate with a simple majority of 51. Instead, 60 votes -- the number needed to cut off the interminable speeches of a filibuster -- has become the minimum required.

In a bid to attract liberals and unify Democrats on his healthcare overhaul bill, Senate Finance Committee C hairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) today proposed to boost subsidies for financially strapped people who would be required to buy insurance. He also slashed proposed penalties for those who did not comply with the insurance mandate and sought to limit how many people would be subject to a new excise tax on high-end -- or so-called Cadillac -- health plans. Baucus' proposals came on the first day that his committee began reworking his long-awaited blueprint.

When Congress began working on healthcare legislation this year, Massachusetts' universal insurance plan was often cited by Democrats as a model to follow. But as the increasingly difficult negotiations enter the fall, legislators might also study the lessons of California. In 2007, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed covering the state's 6.5 million uninsured residents through a plan similar to the one Massachusetts had deployed the previous year. The California program would have required all citizens to obtain insurance, with the state subsidizing part of the premiums for lower earners.

As a key Senate committee prepares today to pass its plan to overhaul the nation's healthcare system, senior Democrats are acknowledging that it may be impossible to provide coverage to all Americans -- a central goal of President Obama and his congressional allies. That is fueling growing alarm among hospitals and insurance companies, which have made universal coverage a condition of their support. On Monday, the insurance industry stepped up its warnings that leaving a large segment of the population without coverage would accelerate a rise in premiums for everyone else.

Providing a major boost to Democrats pushing for a health overhaul, Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe -- the most watched lawmaker in Washington right now -- has announced that she will back a sweeping healthcare bill being debated by the Senate Finance Committee. "When history calls, history calls," she said in announcing her plans after a long recitation of the problems confronting the American healthcare system, including rising costs and the swelling ranks of the uninsured.

Senate Democrats pushing healthcare legislation received a boost from the Congressional Budget Office today as the much-watched nonpartisan agency estimated that a bill being debated by the Senate Finance Committee would cost $829 billion over the next decade. The budget experts also concluded that the bill sponsored by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), would help reduce the overhaul federal deficit by $81 billion by 2019, as additional spending to expand coverage would be offset by cuts and new revenue.

When Congress began working on healthcare legislation this year, Massachusetts' universal insurance plan was often cited by Democrats as a model to follow. But as the increasingly difficult negotiations enter the fall, legislators might also study the lessons of California. In 2007, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed covering the state's 6.5 million uninsured residents through a plan similar to the one Massachusetts had deployed the previous year. The California program would have required all citizens to obtain insurance, with the state subsidizing part of the premiums for lower earners.

In a bid to attract liberals and unify Democrats on his healthcare overhaul bill, Senate Finance Committee C hairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) today proposed to boost subsidies for financially strapped people who would be required to buy insurance. He also slashed proposed penalties for those who did not comply with the insurance mandate and sought to limit how many people would be subject to a new excise tax on high-end -- or so-called Cadillac -- health plans. Baucus' proposals came on the first day that his committee began reworking his long-awaited blueprint.

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) has decided against succeeding his close friend and mentor, the late Edward M. Kennedy, as chairman of the Senate's health committee, a senior Senate aide said Tuesday. The decision sets in motion a game of musical chairs involving committee chairmanships after Kennedy's death. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) is next in line after Dodd to assume the chairmanship of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Multiple sources, who requested anonymity when discussing internal deliberations, said Harkin was sure to take over the post.

Senate Democratic leaders, scrambling for the 60 votes they need to pass the healthcare overhaul bill, moved Monday to strike a controversial proposal for expanding Medicare and proceed without a new government insurance program, the so-called public option. "It's a matter of getting 60 senators," Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) told reporters after an evening meeting of the Democratic caucus in which party leaders stressed the urgency of getting a final Senate vote by next week.

Re "A bill for patients," editorial, Aug. 11 Patients facing terminal illness need information based on who they are as individuals, not an intrusion into their relationship with their doctor. California's AB 2747 interferes with the care of people receiving the worst news of their lives. Sponsored by a group promoting physician-assisted suicide, the bill mandates doctors to give government-specified information to terminally ill patients. As an oral surgeon, I can't imagine giving a dying patient a government dictate of what they need to hear.

A Senate committee approved a statewide indoor smoking ban Wednesday after the bill's author agreed to allow smoking in bars, while competing legislation to gut local anti-smoking ordinances stalled. Although Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman (D-Brentwood) softened his stance to permit smoking in bars, his bill to ban smoking in indoor workplaces continues to meet stiff opposition from tobacco industry and hotel lobbyists, tavern owners and even some senators who voted for it.