AP Sources: Obama may back some House health goals
Erica WernerPresident Barack Obama has indicated support for a national clearinghouse to buy health coverage and an end to the decades-old antitrust exemption enjoyed by insurance companies, Democratic officials said Tuesday.
In signaling his preference, Obama is siding with House Democrats over their Senate counterparts on both issues crucial to negotiations on his health care overhaul.
House Democrats are pressing for both provisions to be included in the final measure, now that their proposal for a government-run insurance option appears dead. Obama also has sided with the Senate to support a new tax on high-value insurance plans opposed in the House.
Obama met with House Democratic leaders last week as they sought support from the president on other priorities. Obama is now indicating support for creation of a national exchange rather than the state-based structure in the Senate bill, and on revoking the antitrust exemption, which the Senate bill does not do, the officials said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations were private.
The maneuvering comes as House Democrats returned Tuesday from their holiday break prepared to step up negotiations with the Senate to get a final health overhaul bill to Obama's desk in time for the State of the Union address sometime early next month.
The legislation passed by both chambers before Christmas is similar in many respects, including expanding the federal-state Medicaid insurance program for the poor and imposing a first-time requirement for almost everyone to purchase insurance. Both bills would extend health coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans over the next decade.
But there are important differences that are now the subject of intense closed-door negotiations among House and Senate Democratic leaders and White House officials.
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Associated Press writers David Espo and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed to this report.