Don't Let Abortion Derail Needed Health Reform

On Capitol Hill, Senators are tirelessly working together to tackle the behemoth that is “comprehensive health care reform.” However one issue yet to be navigated, abortion, could impede both sides from reaching an agreement. This would be a shame.

Somewhere on Capitol Hill, six Senators (3 Democrats and 3 Republicans) are tirelessly working together to tackle the behemoth that is “comprehensive health care reform.”  However one issue yet to be navigated, abortion, could impede both sides from reaching an agreement.  This would be a shame. The Washington Post details today that the six Senators are moving towards a deal that would seek to satisfy both sides. The article notes that lawmakers are claiming that the emerging Finance Committee bill:

would shave about $100 billion off the projected trillion-dollar cost of the legislation over the next decade and eventually provide coverage to 94 percent of Americans, according to participants in the talks. It would expand Medicaid, crack down on insurers, abandon the government insurance option that President Obama is seeking and, for the first time, tax health-care benefits under the most generous plans.

Given the source of the claims (the lawmakers themselves), it remains to be seen whether or not the actual bill seems likely to match any of these claims.  However, were a bill that actually did these things emerge, it would be, I certainly think, a triumph of compromise and, all in all, a victory for the broader public interest. But the negotiations that would lead to such a bill emerging are incredibly complex and the road to health care reform is covered in political land mines. None of these landmines is as contentious as abortion. Abortion is an issue notoriously unsusceptible to compromise.  That makes it a perfect issue for people who want to derail a Senate health care deal. The trouble for Republicans is that the deal taking form in the Senate looks to be pretty good from a conservative point of view.  In fact, Republicans may well like it better than they like the status quo.  That status quo after all does devour a lot of dollars that could be used for something else, even tax cuts. So maybe for once a compromise is in order. Split the difference and say that government money can cover half of the procedure or just agree to flip a coin.  Democrats can call it in the air, since they control both houses of Congress and the White House. While abortion is undoubtedly an issue about which many people on both sides feel very strongly, the health care debate isn’t about abortion.  Trying to control health costs is hard enough without bringing the culture wars into this.