Senate Democrats largely satisfied with health deal

Washington: Senate Democrats on Wednesday largely embraced a compromise that dropped a "public option" from health care legislation, setting aside their concerns about aspects of the consensus plan in the hopes that the deal hatched by negotiators would serve as a rallying point in their push for the passage of reforms.

Industry groups representing doctors and hospitals attacked one of the alternatives in the deal, designed to take the place of a proposed government-run insurance programme, in the hours after Senate leaders announced it on Tuesday night.

They argued that a plan by liberal Democrats to allow uninsured individuals as young as 55 to buy into Medicare would be financially untenable and would jeopardise access to physician services for millions of Americans.

But even Democrats who were not thrilled with the buy-in programme applauded the deal's central component: replacing the public option with two national private insurance policies under the oversight of the Office of Personnel Management, the agency that administers health benefits for federal employees.

Agreement

"If there's 60 senators who can reach agreement, I'm for it," said Finance Chairman Max Baucus, a chief sponsor of the Bill, who represents the kind of rural state that industry groups said would be harmed by a Medicare buy-in.

"Sometimes you've got to do a little bit on the liberal end and a little bit on the moderate end to reach agreement. And that's what's going on."

Earlier on Wednesday, President Barack Obama gave the compromise deal a major boost, praising Senate Democrats for producing "a creative new framework" to provide coverage to uninsured Americans without relying on a public option, an idea that has long divided Democrats and threatened final passage.

"I support this effort, especially since it's aimed at increasing choice and competition and lowering cost," Obama said at a health care event near the White House, where he was joined by a handful of Senate Democrats.

"So I want to thank all of you for sticking with it, for all those late nights, all the long weekends that you guys have put in. With so much at stake, this is well worth all of our efforts."