WASHINGTON - They may not like it, but many House liberals look ready to accept a compromise health-care bill, putting Democratic leaders well on the way to delivering on President Barack Obama's call for reform.
After claiming for months they couldn't vote for a bill without the strongest possible government-run insurance option, liberals are putting aside their disappointment over the weaker version in the legislation for a historic chance to remake America's medical system.
"The current language is far weaker than what I would have preferred, and I think that is also true of the Progressive Caucus," Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, said Friday. "But because I did not come up here to participate in gridlock and acrimony, I have told leadership that I am willing to compromise." Obama privately told House liberals they should chalk up a win.
[...] House floor debate could begin late next week on the sweeping bill that extends coverage to 96 percent of Americans, imposes new requirements on individuals and employers to get insurance and provides subsidies for lower-income people.
The bill includes a new public insurance plan that would pay providers and hospitals rates negotiated by the Health and Human Services secretary.
[...] Grijalva said progressives weren't giving up and would push to offer their preferred public insurance option as an amendment. But House leaders have indicated they won't be allowing amendments to the bill.
House liberals fear what will happen to their bill's version of the government-run plan when time comes to merge it with whatever the Senate passes.
SOURCE: Associated Press > Durango Herald
