White House Cuts Special Help for Nebraska, but Other Deals Remain in Reform Bill

ABC News' Zachary B. Wolf reports: It is clear that priority number one for the White House health reform summit is to cleanse the health reform legislation process in the eyes of Americans who soured on the process and became convinced that the House and Senate bills were behind closed doors with special treatment for certain lawmakers. High up on the list of President Obama’s proposed fix-its is removing special treatment for Nebraska in paying for an expansion of Medicaid. The Nebraska language, which mentioned that state by name and exempted it from bearing any future costs from expanding Medicaid, was dubbed “The Cornhusker Kickback” by Republicans, who said it was an example of Democrats using transactional politics to jam through a health reform bill and buy the vote of Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Nebraska. But Republicans aren’t satisfied that simply removing the Nebraska language will cleanse anything. The top Republican in the Senate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, branded the updated proposal from President Obama “yet another partisan, back-room bill.” And there are controversial special provisions of the Senate health reform bill that President Obama leaves untouched. First up, the “Louisiana Purchase.” Technically, the provision provides special assistance in paying for Medicaid for any state that has been declared a major disaster area and received a certain amount of federal disaster relief. While Louisiana isn’t mentioned by name, it is likely the only state that would currently benefit – to the tune of $300 million.
While Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Nebraska, has sought to strip the Nebraska language from any final health reform bill, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana, has launched a full-throated campaign to keep the disaster money for her state and pointed out that Republicans in her state had requested the funding too. Landrieu said in a speech on the Senate floor Feb. 4th that critics should “shut their mouth.”
And she dedicates a section of her website to explaining the measure. Other special provisions also remain in President Obama’s proposal. There is “Gator-ade” – a provision sought by Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson to grandfather current enrollees in private Medicare Advantage programs at special rates. There are a disproportionate number of Medicare Advantage enrollees in Florida. But while the provisions to help Nebraska and Louisiana were inserted in private by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the Medicare Advantage proposal aimed at Florida passed by a voice vote during a televised markup session of the Senate Finance Committee in October.  It is likewise unclear if the President’s proposal would strip more than $1 billion over ten years in the Senate health reform bill for Vermont and Massachusetts, which already insure most of the residents and so would not otherwise get as much government assistance with the proposed expansion of Medicaid. There is also not specific mention in the President’s list of fix-it, of a special proposal aimed at a Connecticut research hospital, but open to other hospitals, and for an exemption on a new industry tax for non-profit insurers, written in such a way as to benefit Michigan and Nebraska. So those provisions apparently still remain.