Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today voted for two amendments that would have created a public insurance option in the health insurance reform legislation being written by Senate Finance Committee.  Neither amendment passed.

"If we're going to drive down health care costs for the long term, we need to have adequate competition in the marketplace.  I strongly believe we should create a non-profit entity to compete with insurance companies to offer the best care at the lowest cost," Bingaman said.  "While neither public option amendment considered today was approved, we still have an opportunity to write a bill that encourages healthy competition."

An amendment offered by Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) would have created an insurance plan run by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department that tied payment rates to Medicare payments for two years.  After that, the plan would have negotiated its own payment rates. The proposal failed 8-15.

A separate amendment offered by Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) would have set up a plan run by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department that would have negotiated its payment rates immediately. The amendment failed 10-13.

Both plans would have required federal dollars up front that would have been paid back within months, and the plans would have had to be self-sufficient after that.  But neither would have required Americans to enroll.

Bingaman voted for both proposals, but preferred the Schumer proposal because it did not tie costs to Medicare.

The Finance Committee is continuing its work on health insurance reform legislation that aims to both contain skyrocketing costs and extend coverage to the uninsured.   The bill can be found here: http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/legislation.htm.