Gang of Six

The Gang of Six is group of six U.S. Senators, all members of the Senate Committee on Finance, who are seen as the core group that might work out an agreement on health care reform. While they have been called "moderate", that is more in the sense that they have a demonstrated ability to work across party lines, rather than an evaluation of their ideology.

• Max Baucus, chairman
• Chuck Grassley, ranking Republican
• Jeff Bingaman
• Kent Conrad
• Mike Enzi
• Olympia Snowe

With apparent support of at least five of the six, it has produced a specific piece of legislation, usually called the Baucus bill, preliminary text of which is only starting to be available and reviewed on September 18, 2008. The bill has many legislators upset, but in a manner that could be the sort of thing that indicates a compromise that is least unpleasant to the widest range of groups, or could be fatally flawed legislation.

Of the Republicans, Snowe, who does not face reelection until 2012, may be the likeliest to vote with Democrats. While Enzi is known for bipartisanship and spoke positively at the March 2009 White House Forum on Health Reform, he has said he expects to extract Democratic concessions rather than compromise. He gave the weekly Republican radio response, to which Presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs said

Certainly, I think the radio address over the weekend by Sen. Enzi, repeating many of the generic Republican talking points that Republicans are using that have bragged about being opposed to health care, are tremendously unfortunate, but in some ways illuminating...It appears that, at least in Sen. Enzi’s case, he doesn’t believe there’s a pathway to get bipartisan support...Sen. Enzi’s clearly turned over his cards on bipartisanship and decided that it’s time to walk away from the table.

Draft plan

On September 16, Baucus presented elements of the plan. It would cost $856 billion over 10 years and mandate insurance coverage for every American. The proposal has no health care public option, which President Obama has deemed desirable but those further left consider essential, but includes not-for-profit health care cooperatives.

It would bar dropping policyholders as long as premiums had been paid, add protections for pre-existing conditions, and set up tax credits to help purchase coverage.

Structurally, its major sections are:

• Title I — Health Care Coverage. This has 8 major sections, discussed below.
• Title II — Promoting Disease Prevention and Wellness
• Title III — Improving the Quality and Efficiency of Health Care. 13 major sections, discussed below.
• Title IV — Transparency and Program Identity
• Title V — Fraud, Waste and Abuse
• Title VI — Revenue items

Relation to the industry

Several individuals have received substantial contributions from participants in health care, which has raised questions of the appearance of conflict of interest. Some of the early criticism is that the bill is favorable to certain sections of the health industry, but opinion then splits if the favorable aspects are a sellout, or a less-than-ideal approach that will get acceptance from interest groups totally opposed to other solutions.

One interpretation is that certain sectors will get more customers if they give up some discounts and advantaged positions. Other critics, however, believe, sometimes ideologically and sometimes from initial analysis, that too much is given away.

For example, it does contain a mandate that all Americans have coverage or pay a penalty, which, in an of itself, is anathema to some economic conservatives. A broader range, however, say that mandates are absolutely necessary to achieve economies of scale.

It does not contain a public option, but does contain not-for-profit cooperatives. It appears to contain guarantees about being dropped while coverage is paid, and offers protections but not guarantees of protection against pre-existing condition refusals. There is no public option but there are not-for-profit health cooperatives.

Bill Clinton, having failed in a perhaps less open approach, thinks it has a chance of passage with Republican support.

Funding analysis

Baucus, however, trails only Obama and McCain, John Kerry and Arlen Specter D-Pa., have received more health contributions than Baucus, $8.3 million and $4.5 million, respectively.

Senator	Contributions	Rank in Congress
Baucus	$3.9 million	5
Grassley	$2.7 million	14
Conrad	$1.6 million	35
Bingaman	$865,000	102
Enzi	$844,000	104
Snowe	$756,000	122