Lincoln, Landrieu Hint At Support For Revised Health Care Bill

Two key conservative Democrats hinted on Wednesday that they support the health care reform compromises adopted by the party's leadership, including the dropping of a pure public option and the addition of a buy-in alternative for Medicare.

But in remarks to reporters during and outside of a forum on small business, both Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) stressed that they would not make a final judgment about how to vote on reform until the Congressional Budget Office scores the bill.

Of the two, Landrieu seemed more receptive to the reported changes made by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to the Senate's version of health care legislation. The Louisiana Democrat said she thought the Medicare buy-in proposal was "a very good idea" in part because it was "paid for." "But because we don't have a score we can't tell," she added.

Lincoln was far more reserved, declining to weigh in on the Medicare buy-in proposal, saying: "There are a lot of things on the table still and, until we hear back from CBO it will be hard to say whatever I can support."

Asked what would happen if the CBO score showed the revised bill to be more expensive and less inclusive than Reid's original version, she replied: "Then we will go back to the drawing board."

The Arkansas Democrat did, however, applaud one aspect of the new version of reform: the decision to drop the public plan in favor of a non-profit system run by private insurers but regulated by the federal government.

"It takes the best of both words," she said. "Government creates an environment where private industry can operate but... it creates the environment in a way that private industry is providing a product that best suits the needs of the consumer. [Office of Personnel and Management] being the negotiator will help, I think, be able to bring the best product forward."

Both Lincoln and Landrieu have pledged to support a Republican filibuster of health care reform if the bill contained a public option for insurance coverage. So the decision by Reid and others to accommodate those concerns would, under normal circumstance, seem to be enough to earn their votes. But if one rule has been proven true during these negotiations it's that there is little to lose and much to gain when you're the 60th vote for cloture.

Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[yankee222]

03:14 PM on 12/10/2009

Landrieu already squeezed $100M out of these Democratic Clowns.

Now she's hinting..... What's that going to cost?

[Jack Barron]

02:31 PM on 12/10/2009

Lincoln, Landrieu Hint At Support For Huge Insurance Company Hand Out. *Fixed!*

[bluemike]

02:23 PM on 12/10/2009

The best senators money can buy.

[Paisano]

02:06 PM on 12/10/2009

We as Dems need to work to support the people who would challenge these disgusting dems in the primary

[orianna]

09:51 AM on 12/10/2009

So what, she'll lose office, she's now a millionaire from buyouts.... doesn't help us that she's going to lose her next election, does it??

Time for campaign reform! Congress is full of millionaires, getting rich off of illegal deals... no democracy in sight.

[orianna]

09:45 AM on 12/10/2009

Ok, so what I'm hearing is that congress agrees to drop the public option, which would have the potential to return premium profits to the government to offset our country's deficit and citizens' tax burdens and instead votes to help international corporations make even more trillions in dollars off of our mercenary health insurance.

At the same time, congress agrees to include a bill to produce medications in China 'in the interest of American consumers'.

Hah! American consumers are in the interest of China!

Americans need jobs... including jobs in America making SAFE medications.

And when we all die from Cheap China Chink imported drugs, then will be get real health care reform?

Not likely..... this is the biggest scam I've seen yet.

[capitalismisevil]

09:29 AM on 12/10/2009

Oh my, how much will landrieu's next bribe cost us?

[LittleMittens]

05:29 AM on 12/10/2009

Conservative Democrat = Closeted Republican

[alfo]

08:20 AM on 12/10/2009

TO LATE YOU'LL NEVER GET LIBERAL / PROGRESSIVE SUPPORT TO GET REELECTED,YOU WILL LOSE ,IF NOT IN A PRIMARY,THEN IN THE GENERAL BECAUSE LIBERALS WILL STAY HOME.THIS IS ALL YOU DESERVE...............GET OUT.

[springsm]

01:45 AM on 12/10/2009

Landrieu is not all that smart and she was just re-elected. Lincoln looks tired and scared..she has to be re-elected...bet she won't be.

[mergina]

01:41 AM on 12/10/2009

Your careers are finished.

[CanadianBeef]

12:43 AM on 12/10/2009

Well, I guess 55-64 year-olds can rejoice while younger folk can suck air.

[dlo2]

11:47 PM on 12/09/2009

This is so emotion- laden for all of us. What I don't wish to see is dropping democratic senators anywhere and seeing them replaced with GOP mean-spirited myopia. We do need more independent, progressive minds and ones that can perceive the transparent motivations and actions (reflecting greed) of the insurance companies/big pharma. What we don't need is a reenactment of past years with GOP demagogic bullying in the Senate or the House and that's why we must keep our Democratic representatives and try to work with them throughout this country. We need to work together as if our lives depended on it..

[Texanbybirth]

10:12 PM on 12/09/2009

What's that I hear in the distance........It's a moving van pulling up to Lincoln's office. She's done!

[TyneCrescent]

07:48 PM on 12/09/2009

I hope the real progressives, the real progressive leaders will not cave and placate the insurance industry, the lobbyists or the obstructionist GOP, who haven't done or produced one iota of solution or recommendation to the health care situation. I hope they will fight tooth and nail for the public option.

From all the posturing and wheeling and dealing, it seems members of the Senate are more concerned about pleasing each other, and not stepping on each other's toes than they are about crafting a bill that the majority of Americans want. I am all for compromise and bi-partisanship when both sides are equally engaged in forthright debate and making a conscientious effort to find a workable solution. But the past year has demonstrated, if anything, that our politicians are not of the mind to do that. And who will suffer most from what will probably be (but I'll reserve opinion until the final details are released) some watered-down half-baked bill that only gives the insurance industry more clout in people's lives.

That trigger option is just nonsense. If the industry doesn't meet certain parameters, the trigger kicks in. If they had been doing what was right all along, instead of what was profitable for them, we wouldn't be having this discussion. And we're supposed to blindly trust that they're going to do what's best for consumers versus the huge profits from the practices they're already engaged in? Yeah, right...

[Anym]

07:23 PM on 12/09/2009

We need a new progressive party.

Any ideas?

[orianna]

09:49 AM on 12/10/2009

Impossible without campaign reform.....

Libertarians are the closest we have and they cannot get the votes without the bucks to compete with campaign ads and media buyouts.

We first have to make it unlawful to waste so many dollars in running for a democratic political office.... which only leaves access to office to the mighty powerful and wealthy.... which isn't democratic at all.

[Aerows]

06:05 PM on 12/10/2009

And there isn't a one of them that would vote to end their gravy train. The problem with campaign finance reform is that you have to get people to vote for it. The people certainly will, but the politicians?