WASHINGTON, May 9 (UPI) -- A controversial Republican-backed small-business health-insurance bill cleared an early procedural hurdle Tuesday, though its fate remained uncertain as the U.S. Senate began debate on the measure.
Lawmakers voted 96 to 2 to allow debate to go forward on a bill that would let small business owners join together across state lines to negotiate for lower insurance rates.
Nearly 60 percent of the estimated 46 million Americans lacking health insurance own or work in small businesses, and backers argue that the bill would give a large portion of them access to cheaper coverage.
"This provides solutions for them. This can make a real difference in healthcare for America," said Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee and the bill's chief sponsor.
Studies have estimated that as many as 1 million families could gain coverage if small businesses were allowed to purchase coverage together across state lines.
But the Congressional Budget Office estimated that small business health plans would extend coverage to just 600,000 individuals.
Business groups have thrown strong backing behind the bill, arguing that it will help control costs for small firms and allow more of them to offer medical coverage to employees.
However, the bill faces staunch opposition from Democrats and some moderate Republicans, mainly because it circumvents laws in most states guaranteeing coverage for cancer screenings, diabetes equipment, maternity care and a variety of other medical services.
That has earned vehement opposition from close to 200 health care groups, including the American Diabetes Association, the American Cancer Society and AARP.
The bill would allow small-business associations to offer low-cost, high-deductible insurance plans, which Enzi said would allow people now without insurance to buy at least basic coverage. Opponents warned that such coverage would appeal to younger workers, but would make coverage more expensive for older and sicker persons by siphoning off healthier people.
GOP leaders on Tuesday were preparing to shepherd down a tenuous path in the Senate.
Democrats threatened to filibuster the bill unless Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., agreed to allow amendments on several other health issues, including expansions to embryonic stem cell research and an extension to the May 15 enrolment deadline for Medicare's prescription drug benefit.
"We know if we don't seize this moment, we may never have another one this year," said Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill.
Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, a moderate supporter of similar small-business health plans, said Tuesday she would offer an amendment preserving coverage mandates enacted in at least 26 states.
Snowe's amendment appeared to be an attempt to lure reluctant Democrats to support the bill. But Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., called the amendment a "fig leaf," and it was unclear how much support it would garner from Democrats.
Meanwhile, some conservative Republicans signaled that exceptions for state insurance mandates turned them against the bill. Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., called the amendment "a poor idea" because it would help raise insurance costs. "If you mandate coverage for some disease ... if there's no coverage at all, it doesn't do any good," he told reporters.
