Here’s a round-up of the latest news out of Capitol Hill on health care reform. Apparently, Orrin Hatch walked out on the "bipartisan" talks on health care reform in the Senate Finance Committee. Here’s a quote from Senator Hatch:

“Right now, with some of the provisions in there, I just can’t do it,” Hatch told reporters in Washington today. The Utah senator said he can’t support a measure that costs as much as $1 trillion, and opposes other provisions he sees as likely to be included in a final measure. 

Hatch said he fears that if Baucus produces a bill, Democratic leaders in both chambers won’t allow it to be the framework for final legislation and will instead press ahead for provisions Republicans oppose. He said the provisions he can’t agree to include a public option, the employer mandate and the individual coverage mandate.

“They’re going to pass two very partisan bills, and then put the crunch on Max,” Hatch said. Hatch is one of four Republicans who had been meeting with Baucus and Democrats Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico on a possible compromise. Republicans in the group include Charles Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on Baucus’s panel; Olympia Snowe of Maine and Mike Enzi of Wyomi

That same article talks about the current negotiations going on which involve the creation of non-profit co-operatives to compete against private insurers. It’s not clear whether these co-operatives will be state-based or nationally based. If they are state-based, then that falls very closely in line with what the Blue Dogs want. The only reason they’re pushing state-based co-operatives are because that’s what the private insurers are pushing as well behind the scenes because it affords them an opportunity to game the system. 

And on the House side, Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s making the right sort of noises about having Congress stay to work on health care reform. However, there is one big caveat in the article where she talks about having Congress stay to work on health care reform:

But Pelosi also said she believes she has the votes to pass the bill on the floor of the House. Still, she indicated it will be important for members to look at the Senate Finance Committee’s version, which is not yet finished. That suggests she may change the House version to more closely resemble the Senate bill.

The Senate Finance version should have broader appeal with Democratic centrists and Republicans, particularly if it does not include a government-run insurance option to compete with the private sector, as expected.

You know what’s likely to be in the Senate Finance Committee bill? State-based health co-operatives or a national health care co-operative.  If they try to change the Tri-Committee health care bill to look a lot more like the "co-op alternatives to the public option," in the Senate Finance bill then it would be the worst possible course to happen, including the dropping of the subsidies for the middle class from 400% of the federal poverty level to 300% of the poverty level, in order to win the votes of the Blue Dog Democrats. 

It’s why Jane Hamsher has been working so hard on the Public Option Whip Tool count to make sure we have a progressive bloc of Democrats that refuse to pass out a badly weakened health care bill with no public option out of the House. We have to keep up on the phone calls to Members of Congress asking them not to go on recess, and to pass the Tri-Committee House health care bill as it currently stands out of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

We can’t afford for them to go on vacation while we suffer from claim denials, lack of claim reimbursements, fighting for pre-authorization, and being dropped from insurance policies due to pre-existing conditions. Thousands of Americans are also facing medical bankruptcy this week from medical bills they can’t afford to pay because their private insurers refuses to do so.

I’ve had enough of this dithering from Congress. Will you please join me in signing the petition and asking the House to stay in session to pass health care instead of going on vacation?