Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Utah) has said that he is open to making minor legislative changes to the Affordable Care Act, according to an April 2 article in the Washington Examiner. After an April 1 private meeting with Senate Democrats, Reid told reporters that the Senate already has made minor adjustments, and that he will take up measures to further tweak the law. “Anything we can do to let people know that we're not deaf to issues that may come up,” Reid said, according to the Examiner. “This is a big bill. And if we had working partners, as we used to have, with Republicans, there are other things we could do to work on this bill.” Among other things, Reid said that the Senate would vote this week on a provision that would exclude volunteer firefighters from the employer mandate. In addition, several Democratic senators recently introduced legislation that would end the employer mandate for employers with fewer than 100 employees. Currently, employers with fewer than 50 full-time workers are exempt. The proposal also would direct state insurance regulators to establish models for selling insurance across state lines — a proposal favored by the GOP — and restore money for the creation of “consumer-driven” health insurance cooperatives to give people more choices outside of the health care exchanges, the Examiner reported. Reid, who controls the Senate floor schedule, didn’t comment on whether he would allow votes on these proposals. (Reprinted from AIS’s Health Reform Week's e-News Alert)