Minutes later, House Republican leaders successfully pushed through their own plan, released only eight days earlier, by another close vote of 216-210. The action now moves to the Senate where the rules of debate make it much more difficult for the GOP leadership to push through and enact the exact patient protection bill they want. Republicans have heard from constituents and candidates around the country on patient protections and they are working hard to diffuse the issue by moving legislation through Congress. This strategy stands in stark contrast to their strategy during the first half of the year, which was to oppose all health care bills that sought to regulate managed care plans. Republicans are now seeking to put President Clinton in the position of either signing their bill and defusing a potent election issue, or vetoing it and potentially taking the blame for not reaching agreement.
Democrats also recognize the strength of the patient protection issue at the polls.
They believe patient protections are both good public policy and good politics for their party. If satisfactory legislation is not enacted this session, which they are working hard for, Democrats believe they have a winning campaign issue that could potentially enable the Democrats to take control of the House of Representatives, a prospect that would require a gain of approximately 11 Congressional seats out of 435 elections. At a forum sponsored by the AMA and Families USA Foundation on July 9, political operatives and pollsters from both political parties agreed. Many forum participants noted that Democrats have controlled the patient protections issue and that Republicans must play catch up. Many critics of the Republican plan, however, assert that the House patient protection bill indeed amounts to nothing more than a token effort, designed to appear to the American people as though real progress has been made on the managed care issue prior to the election.