This morning’s vote on the health reform bill is as anticlimactic as it is divisive. After weeks and months of speculation, townhall harangues, and political incivility, the Baucus bill^[1] and its more liberal cousin^[2] will merge and go the floor. It’s a foregone conclusion that the bill will be more notable for what it does not contain than for what it does — mainly a so-called public option provision that is enough to satisfy Obama’s more politically Left base.

Fueling the the events today was the release of a report on Sunday (which the White House denounces as a political ploy at influence peddling) from the AHIP lobby detailing the rapid increase in premiums [PDF] if Baucus’s plan saw the light of day. No matter, according to Baucus — as he has the votes to pass his version. Responses are coming out of the woodwork on the heels of today’s vote. A few:

• A leading hospital lobby seems to be backtracking on recent total support of the Baucus plan. The hospitals, which agreed to contribute $155 billion in savings over 10 years toward an overhaul effort, have said that not enough new people would be covered by the finance committee’s final version.
• Some physicians who practice in highly technological subspecialties feel unfairly targeted — as they have complained about provisions in the legislation, including a measure that would penalize physicians in the top 10 percent of spenders. Additionally, some medical device makers oppose a tax provision in the Senate Finance bill that would require them to pay $40 billion annually.
• The AHIP (the organization at the center of the current Hill firestorm) considers the Finance committee’s measure to be one it generally supports but still retains concerns over the ability for insurance companies to reach “higher coverage targets”.

Although there are key differences the White House says Insurance completely ignores, like the utilization of healthcare exchanges to ensure future cost savings; there is generally broad bipartisan agreement on issues of the abolition of preexisting condition provisions, preventive care initiatives, and EHR implementation. The road to complete agreement on how to spend dollars to achieve these goals is a different matter altogether, however.

1. so named as its chief architect is also the Finance Cmte. chair [↩]
2. courtesy the Health Employment Labor and Pension Committee [↩]

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