JULY 21, 2009, 5:50 P.M. ET.
US House Democrats Claim 'Breakthrough' On Health Bill
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Conservative Democrats gained support Tuesday in a White House meeting for a proposal to strengthen an outside Medicare advisory board, according to a House lawmaker at the center of negotiations on health-care legislation.
Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., told reporters that a White House meeting on health-care legislation yielded a "breakthrough" on proposals to transform the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, or MedPAC, into a stronger entity with power to make binding recommendations on how Medicare pays doctors and hospitals.
Ross is taking the lead on health-care talks for members of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of fiscally conservative House Democrats. Seven Blue Dogs who serve on the House Energy and Commerce Committee met with President Barack Obama and House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., in an effort to break an impasse on the committee that has threatened House Democrats' ability to pass the measure before a month-long recess in August.
Ross said the idea of strengthening MedPAC, which already had the support of the Obama administration, won the support of Waxman and Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., who heads the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee. The White House has said that the MedPAC proposal would go a long way toward controlling long-term health costs.
"We haven't finalized an agreement on this independent Medicare advisory council, but we're making progress in that direction," Ross said. "We came out of the meeting with an understanding that we're moving in that direction, based on the fact that the CBO tells us that it's the biggest single item we can address as it relates to cost containment."
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090721-717218.html
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