Ping Pong

We've been telling you that differences between the House and Senate health reform bills would be resolved in a conference committee.  Now, however, it looks as if Congressional leaders are instead using a less formal process - sometimes called "ping pong" - to come up with a single bill.

In the "ping pong" process, the two houses confer informally, and sometimes send amendments back and forth.  Eventually, the two houses will have passed the same bill, without a conference committee.  The ping pong is already under way; leaders of both houses conferred with the White House last night.  The process is expected to take about a month.

For us, there's no difference whether there's an official conference committee or a less formal ping pong match.  The point is this: Over the next few weeks, we'll either get a health reform bill that meets our needs or we'll get one with serious flaws.

That means the next few weeks represent our last chance to have our voices heard.  CWA is asking us to write to our representatives in Congress, asking them to make the bill as good as possible.

We're focusing on two issues, and, on both, we think the House has the right approach:

• Taxing benefits. The Senate would slap a tax on high-premium health policies.  This would hit many of our members and millions of working American families. The House has a better way to pay for reform: a so-called "millionaire's tax" on high-earning individuals.
• Making sure employers pay their fair share.  The House bill would require employers (except for the smallest ones) to offer coverage to their workers or pay a substantial penalty.  The Senate bill has no employer requirement.