Senate Finance Passes Health Care

Yesterday afternoon, Max Baucus finally got his health care plan through the Senate Finance Committee. He even managed to pick up Olympia Snowe's vote:

With its vote Tuesday, the Finance Committee became the fifth — and final — Congressional panel to approve a sweeping health care bill. The action will now move to the floors of the House and the Senate, where the health care measures still face significant hurdles.

As a political matter, this is very good news. Getting the bill out of committee moves it to the Senate floor, where the debate won't be dictated by a single, moderate Senator from a mostly unpopulated state. As a policy matter, it's not great news: Baucus' bill was thin gruel, and while it would eradicate some of the most egregious sins committed by insurance companies, it would do little to improve the lives of middle-wage workers. This is why the AFL-CIO disapproves of it and why they want to see a public option in place:

The committee bill taxes workers’ health care benefits through its tax on certain premiums. It also does not include a public health insurance plan option that would give working families a choice between private insurance and an affordable, quality public option....

The next step is to merge the bill with the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee legislation that includes a public option and doesn’t tax workers’ health benefits. That could be on the Senate floor later this month. House action likely will come soon after the Senate moves.

How It Affects AAUP
There's another piece here that has downstream effects on our membership. Currently, we are among the worst-paid faculty in the country. In terms of total compensation, however, we do far better. Over the years, we've claimed only modest pay increases in order to protect our health care. So long as we wish to keep our good benefits (which are by no means "Cadillac" benefits), our salaries will forever be hampered. Unless, of course, health care costs are reigned in. Most economists agree that the public option is the best way, short of completely re-designing health care, to contain costs in our current system. So even if our membership don't need the option, reigning in health costs would directly benefit us as the balance of our total compensation begins to shift back toward salary.

The fight's not over, but health care reform prospects are brighter this morning than they have been in months.