The House Education and Labor Markup: Making a Bad Bill Worse

Robert Moffit / July 31, 2009

The House Education and Labor Committee completed its consideration of HR 3200 this week after just 20 hours of work. The 1,018-page bill, which would overhaul a sector of the economy the size of Great Britain, was rushed through to meet House Speaker Pelosi’s earlier goal of getting the massive measure to the House Floor before the August recess. That goal is no longer achievable.

Here are some key decisions made by the Committee and how they will affect ordinary Americans:

Special Treatment for Socialized Medicine. (Kucinich Amendment text) Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) won Committee support for an amendment that would allow a state to get an Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) waiver if they set up a single-payer system in the state. The state-based single payer system would operate in lieu of the National Health Exchange and public insurance option embodied in House bill. Under the Kucinich amendment, a state could override ERISA, federal law governing self-insured companies. It is worth noting that for Americans in such a state who liked and wanted to keep their private health insurance- a promise President Obama has made repeatedly- that promise would be nullified under the Committee amendment. It is also worth noting that the Committee did not provide for any other policy option for states, including free market options, except the adoption of a state-based system of socialized medicine. (more…)