Oregon Public Broadcasting

Northwest lawmakers helped to nudge Congress closer to passing health care legislation Tuesday. The health care financing bill championed by Senator Max Baucus passed, setting the stage for the next phase of legislative wrangling. April Baer reports.

The Northwest has three Senators on the Finance Committee: Washington's Maria Cantwell, Idahoan Mike Crapo, and Oregon's Ron Wyden. Both Cantwell and Wyden voted with the majority to get the Baucus bill passed, and Crapo voted against it.

Clerk:  "Mister Chairman, the final tally is 14 ayes, nine nays."

Max Baucus: "I thank all Senators."

But the road to the vote took a few rocky turns.  Wyden has been voicing reservations for weeks. In the end, he said health care could not be tackled piecemeal, and that it was worth moving a bill of this size and scope forward.

Ron Wyden  "Health reform is like an ecosystem. The independent organisms are hardly independent. A change in one area leads to change in another area, which leads to changes in still other areas."

Wyden has been pressing for a Free Choice amendment that would allow more people who already have insurance to shop around for more favorable coverage.

That wasn't in the version of the bill that passed, but Wyden appears to have leveraged his vote on the Baucus bill for some help getting a similar concept incorporated later. It's not clear how much of his original concept might survive.

In the end, Wyden said he was unwilling to give assistance to those whose goal is to foil health care legislation.

Ron Wyden   "My vote today to advance this bill forward, is a judgment that there is enough good will in this committee and in the Congress to move forward in a bi-partisan way. We're going to have to do it, otherwise the American people won't believe our legislation is affordable, they'll be concerned about restricting choice, and none of us want that."

But the legislation passed by the Finance Committee is subject to change again in the next few weeks.

Over at the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, or HELP Committee, Senator Jeff Merkley and others have passed a separate bill with some similarities - like abolishing pre-existing conditions - and some differences, like a public option that wasn't in the Finance version. 

The bills' merger is underway. There'll be additional chances for amendments on the Senate floor, and in conference committee, assuming the final product passes.

Plenty of Wyden's constituents still have wish lists.

Oregon AFL-CIO president Tom Chamberlain thanked Wyden Tuesday, but says his membership is  counting on Wyden and others to fight for a public option.

The Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems also sent congratulations -- and expressed hopes Wyden will expand an amendment to reward Oregon's efficient care systems with more favorable Medicare payments.

The hospitals' Director of Advocacy is Andi Easton.

Andi Easton: "We still have hopes Senator Wyden will be able to get that broadened in a merged bill with the health committee."

Republicans and fiscal conservatives will continue to press Democrats like Wyden on the cost of the overall bill.