Potential House Vote on Health Reform Saturday; But are the votes there?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced today that she will have enough votes to pass Democratic health care legislation by Saturday and their are rumors of a potential Saturday vote. However many DC insiders are seeing the statement as confirming that she does not yet have the 218 votes needed to pass the $1 trillion dollar bill. Moderates including Democratic Blue Dogs still have concerns with fundamental components of the bill. Over the next 24 hours moderates and Blue Dogs will likely determine if Democrats have the votes they need but at this point there are significant gaps.

Today, AARP and AMA announced support for the House health reform legislation. However dramatic concerns remain regarding components of the bill beyond the public option such as the Medicare Part D drug price negotiation. Many key aspects of the House health reform plan were cut in the final version and there is concern that health reform needs to address long overdue issues such as Medicare Part B reimbursement and physician reimbursement cuts which have significant patient access implications.