Kennedy secretly crafts health care plan

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By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum

EXCLUSIVE:

From his sickbed, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has secretly been orchestrating meetings with lobbyists and lawmakers from both parties to craft legislation that would greet the new president with a plan to provide affordable medical coverage to all Americans, a measure he has called "the cause of my life."

Mr. Kennedy has been sidelined for months with a dangerous form of brain cancer. But despite his disheartening medical prognosis - or maybe because of it - aides and activists say, the Massachusetts Democrat's decades-long quest for health care reform may now be closer to success than ever.

"There is a serious process moving forward and that augurs well," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a nonprofit health care advocacy group. "There really is a sea change that should not be underestimated in terms of attitude."

Among those who are receptive to a bipartisan plan and who have participated in the initial talks is Sen. Michael B. Enzi of Wyoming, the ranking Republican on the Senate health committee, which Mr. Kennedy leads.

The meetings "are a testament to how people feel about him," Enzi spokesman Michael Mahaffey said. "Senator Enzi is looking forward to working with Senator Kennedy on this issue."

Mr. Kennedy's goal, his aides say, is to introduce a universal health care bill as soon as the new Congress convenes next year and to push quickly for its passage - a much-accelerated timetable compared with the last time that a health care overhaul was on the agenda, at the start of the Clinton administration.

"Senator Kennedy has spent the last several weeks laying the groundwork for reform so that we can be ready to go in 2009," said his spokesman Anthony Coley. "This is and has been the cause of Senator Kennedy's life."

He also hopes the bill's fortunes will be helped by the extensive private consultations between his staff and major players in the health care system. His aides have met with representatives of business groups, labor unions, consumer organizations, insurers, physicians, drug companies and hospitals.

President Clinton's health care initiative faltered 15 years ago largely because he was unable to gain the support of many of these key factions after constructing a plan that kept many Congress members in the dark for months.