Kennedy secretly crafts health care plan

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By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum

Mr. Kennedy is also moving with the knowledge of the presidential candidate who's now leading in the polls, Sen. Barack Obama, and appears determined not to repeat the Clinton-era mistakes.

While Mr. Kennedy is shooting for universal coverage, the two men running for president - John McCain and Mr. Obama - have their own plans that many analysts say fall short of that goal. An Obama Senate aide sat in on many of the early Kennedy meetings; no McCain aide did.

The wide-ranging talks have taken place behind closed doors on Capitol Hill and have been monitored by Mr. Kennedy through daily telephone updates from his staff, said his aides and several participants.

The discussions, which started in June, included 14 roundtable meetings in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. These were attended not only by Kennedy aides but also by staffers, both Republicans and Democrats, from the Senate committees with jurisdiction over health care. Those include the Budget Committee, the Finance Committee and the committee that Mr. Kennedy leads, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

Also attending was the entire panoply of interest groups with stakes in the cost and availability of health coverage. These included the AFL-CIO, the Business Roundtable, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business, the National Retail Federation, the Federation of American Hospitals, the American Medical Association, America's Health Insurance Plans, Families USA, AARP and the Consumers Union.

Mr. Kennedy's staff has started to meet regularly with a small group of people representing each facet of industry as well as consumers. Kennedy aides said they have not drafted legislation but probably will do so soon.

The conversations are extraordinary for several reasons. First, they have been bipartisan - a rarity in the increasingly polarized capital these days.

The talks also have managed to put in the same room interests that rarely meet - let alone agree with one another. No one is under the illusion that finding a compromise will be easy. Indeed, it remains unclear that a long-elusive consensus can be found. Participants agree, however, that Mr. Kennedy's active role - particularly during his convalescence - have increased the likelihood of a breakthrough.

"He sets aside several hours each day. He's calling senators. He's working tirelessly," Mr. Pollack said. "He's making things happen."

"Kennedy is really seizing the moment," said Adrienne Hahn of Consumers Union. "He's a real bridge-builder. He can bring strange bedfellows together."

Mr. Kennedy's close relationship with Mr. Obama could prove a boon to those prospects as well.

Kennedy aides say that although they were not working with the Obama campaign on their plan, they also are not considering proposals to which a President Obama would object.

"Were Obama to win, [Mr. Kennedy] will have significant influence on an Obama administration?" Mr. Pollack predicted.

The senator from Massachusetts was an early backer of Mr. Obama's presidential run, and his speech at the Democratic National Convention in August, which focused on health care reform, was one of the event's highlights.

"I pledge to you that I will be there next January on the floor of the United States Senate," Mr. Kennedy told the cheering crowd in Denver. "This is the cause of my life, new hope that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American - north, south, east, west, young, old - will have decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not a privilege."

But Mr. Kennedy will not be the only lawmaker to offer a health care package next year. Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, also might introduce a proposal, though a Baucus aide said the Montana Democrat plans to work closely with Mr. Kennedy.

The 76-year-old senator received a diagnosis in May of a malignant brain tumor and, after surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatment, has been recuperating at his family's compound in Hyannis Port. Insiders say he devotes several hours a day to his health care project.

"Here's a guy who has made a serious effort on health reform several times in the past and failed," said John Rother, a top executive at AARP, the senior citizens lobby. "There will be a very strong impulse in the Congress to do things for him, especially things he really cares about, and health care would be at the top of that list."

"There is this real feeling," Mr. Rother added: " 'Let's do it for Ted.' "