Senate health bill unlikely to include Medicare buy-in

DEMOCRATS SET TO SCALE BACK
Insufficient support for public-option alternative

By Shailagh Murray and Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Senate Democratic leaders appeared poised Monday night to abandon efforts to create a government-run insurance safety net in their push for health-care reform, as they attempted to close ranks around a bill they hoped would win the backing of all 60 members of their caucus.

Democratic negotiators had already disappointed liberal lawmakers by jettisoning a full-fledged public insurance plan a week earlier. Last night, party leaders conceded that a key portion of the compromise they crafted to replace the public option -- a proposal allowing people as young as 55 to buy into Medicare -- also did not have sufficient support from Democratic moderates to overcome a likely Republican filibuster.

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), after consulting with senior White House officials, rallied his caucus in a closed-door meeting Monday evening, reminding senators that there was broad consensus behind most of the provisions in the $848 billion package and warning them of the consequences of not passing a bill before the end of the year.

"Democrats are not going to let the American people down," he told reporters after the meeting. "I am confident that by next week, we will be on our way to final passage."

(More here.)