WASHINGTON - It's not just Democrats and Republicans who are at odds over health care reform. House and Senate Democrats are going after each other over the shape of the legislation that is President Barack Obama's top domestic priority.
[...] The big sticking points are these:
Government insurance:
House Democrats are adamant about allowing the government to sell insurance to people who don't have affordable care and are too young for Medicare or make too much money for Medicaid. The government-run Medicare program covers the elderly, while Medicaid offers coverage to the poor. The leading Senate bill contains no such public option and even if senators ultimately agree to some public plan variant, it's certain to be much weaker than the House version. Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California has staked out an uncompromising position on the issue. "I want to send our conferees to the table with the most muscle for America's middle class," she says.
Employer responsibility:
The House includes a requirement for employers to provide insurance coverage to their employees or pay a penalty. There's no such mandate in the leading Senate bill. Instead, employers would be required to pay a fee for any employee who obtains coverage with government subsidies. The distinction may seem subtle, but it makes a big difference to business groups and Democrats on both ends of the ideological spectrum.
Paying for the bill:
In recent weeks, the issue of affordability has become central to the health overhaul debate, in part because it's a critical concern for Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, who has considerable leverage as the only Republican in Congress to have voted in favor of Democratic health care legislation. The House offers more generous subsidies to lower-income people than the Senate, and senators have already talked about adjusting their subsidies upward. That's where the cost of the bill and the different methods used to pay for it in the House and Senate come in.
SOURCE: MSNBC
