Pelosi Plans Health Care Two-Track

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Carrie Budoff Brown,Patrick O'Connor

With the broader health care bill still perilously close to collapse, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to take a shot at the health insurance industry next week by scheduling a vote on a smaller bill to revoke its half-century-old exemption from antitrust laws.

The vote is part of her new two-track strategy to tackle things that won’t be included in a more sweeping bill — if Congress ever passes one — while giving her members something politically popular to vote on. The move also puts pressure on Republicans, the industry and wavering Democrats, who wish their leaders would abandon the push altogether.

The bill comes as party brass struggles to find a path forward in the broader health care reform effort and amounts to a concession to her caucus as more sweeping legislation twists in the wind.
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