New Committee Assignment Allows McCain to Play a Role in Health Care Reform

Arizona Sen. John McCain may not get the chance to implement the health care reform plan he envisioned, but he intends to be a part of the solution that comes out of Washington.  

McCain now sits on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee where he will work with Committee Chairman Sen. Ted Kennedy and ranking republican Sen. Orin Hatch of Utah to help draft the health care reform bill put forth by the Senate.

Some points of the healthcare plan McCain proposed during his presidential bid differed sharply from then Democrat nominee Barack Obama. McCain supported tax credits for people to buy their own insurance, while Obama wants to expand the current system.  But both plans sought the same outcome: get more people insured.

“They both took the position that everyone should have access to health insurance,” said Moffitt, director of the Center for Health Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation.    

And that starting point bodes well for hospitals executives, industry analysts and the American Health Insurance Plans say, who agree that the more people who have health care insurance, the less medical bad debt there will be.

Moffitt doesn’t expect the parties to agree on some proposals, such as the creation of a government health plan they fear would compete with private health plans.  Nor does he expect bipartisan support for the creation of a health board — proposed by Health Secretary Sen. Tom Daschle — that makes decisions about treatment patients receive.

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Although McCain’s expertise lies more in defense than health care, Moffitt said McCain’s involvement in crafting health care legislation is good because of the work involved and because he has a bipartisan reputation on Capitol Hill.  McCain also enjoys a good working relationship with Committee Chairman Sen. Ted Kennedy, who experts say wants health care reform to be his final legacy.

“People talk all the time about health policy in generalities. Generalities don’t mean anything in health care. No one can talk about anything until we actually see a bill,” Moffitt said. “The hard part of all of this comes down to the details. That’s going to be worked out in the House and Senate, not in the White House.”

Fitch Ratings Insurance Group Analyst Bradley Ellis said there is much less distance between Democrats and Republicans than there was in the 1990s when the Clinton Administration tackled health care reform, partly because Democrats recognize that a system run by the government is not good for the country.  

“There would be significant disruption from switching (to a government controlled system) and in the end it would be less efficient,” Ellis said, adding that Americans would pay for any perceived free coverage in higher taxes.

But Ellis expects Democrats to push for coverage mandates that don’t exclude people with preexisting conditions and limit treatment options, while reducing or limiting their out-of-pocket liabilities.  McCain meanwhile, also would fight for insurers, especially if they have to compete with any federally sponsored plans.    

“I think it is a good thing to have John McCain in that forum to make sure insurers have a level playing field,” Ellis said.

Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for the American Health Insurance Plans, said the organization’s priority is making sure everyone is in the health care system and getting control of rising cost. It also would like to health insurance regulation addressed on a national level.

“We think there should be uniformity across the country about how health insurance regulated,” he said.