Sen. Harkin: Health Care Bill Will Be On President’s Desk Before Christmas

Travis Martinez, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who chairs the Senate Heath, Education, Labor and Pensions Commitee, asserted Friday that health care reform legislation will be passed by late December.

“The merged health care reform bill, will be on the President’s desk before Christmas, and yes it will have a public option,” said Harkin during a conference call with reporters. “It will have a good strong public option.”

When asked on what shape the public option will take, the Senator acknowledged that there are three viable options but is heavily promoting his committee’s option plan, because, “it does not rely on medicare reimbursement data and would be self sufficient.”

During a Democratic Caucus meeting the majority agreed on the HELP public option, but the Iowa senator recognized that if a public option is included, it would be a hard battle for the required 60 votes.

The Senator estimates that the merged bill will be back from the Majority Leader’s office sometime next week, then will head to the CBO office for scoring. Harkin believes the plan will cost around $900 billion over a ten year period.