Democrats in the U.S. Senate are warming up to legislation that would permanently replace the flawed sustainable growth rate formula and extend the Children's Health Insurance Program for two years, according to a Politico report.
The total cost of the legislation, which was crafted by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.),is about $210 billion. Approximately $70 billion of the total cost would be offset by reductions to payments to providers, such as hospitals and insurers, and through structural changes to the Medicare program.
Senate Democrats have objected to the bill, saying they wanted to extend CHIP for four years rather than two, and didn't want to include Hyde Amendment abortion restrictions to the bill's funding for community health centers, according to the report. Also, the report notes, Senate Democrats were frustrated that the Senate was not involved in the negotiations.
But some Democrats are now coming out in support of the legislation. For instance, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri), said she is not concerned with the Hyde language since community health centers have had abortion restrictions for decades, according to the report. "We're getting two years of CHIP, and it was not too long ago that we worried we were even going to get one year," she told Politico. "So to me, we should reward Speaker Boehner for working with the Democrats and finding a compromise by saying 'way to go.'"
Another lawmaker, Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, is also showing support for the bill. He said in the report he wishes CHIP were extended four years, but "getting the doc fix done once and for all is a positive development." And Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) said in the report he could see himself supporting it, although he would also like to offer amendments, such as a longer extension for CHIP.
The U.S. House passed the permanent doc-fix bill March 26. The bill now moves to the U.S. Senate.
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