On the floor and behind closed doors, the Senate wrestled Saturday with amendments that would impose additional cost-control requirements on hospitals, doctors and drug companies, squeezing out savings beyond the considerable sums those groups had already volunteered to give up.
Of particular concern to seniors groups is an effort to strengthen a new independent board that would determine the future of Medicare, raising the possibility of cuts much deeper than those envisioned in the $848 billion health-care bill.
President Obama is scheduled to visit the Capitol on Sunday to rally Democrats to overcome lingering disputes, including the major flashpoints of abortion and a government-run insurance option. But other unresolved issues that have attracted less public attention pose a direct threat to deals cut by the White House months ago to appease the American Hospital Association, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and other industry groups whose opposition proved lethal to President Bill Clinton's 1994 quest for health-care reform.
- Hospital, drug concerns
- AARP vs. the board
