INDIANAPOLIS | State lawmakers spent Wednesday afternoon putting new tires and a muffler on a car with no engine.
Actually, it was the governor's health insurance plan that got some fine-tuning. But House Public Health Chairman, Charlie Brown, D-Gary, acknowledged that a crucial component is still missing.
"The funding for this program is yet to be determined," Brown said. "There is a commitment that there will be a funding stream before we leave here this month."
There have been attempts to attach a cigarette tax hike of at least 25 cents, which Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels says is enough to provide health care to about 120,000. But partisan politics have led to what House Minority Leader Brian Bosma has declared a "standoff."
"This strategy is to gig the governor," said Bosma, an Indianapolis Republican.
Bosma said House Republicans are eager to endorse a cigarette tax hike out up to 40 cents -- if Democrats would only let them.
House Speaker Pat Bauer, D-South Bend, said the GOP had its chance, but instead allowed their governor's tax hike to fail by seven votes last month. Bauer said a constitutional provision prevents him for attaching another tax hike to one of the Senate bills the House is now dealing with.
Meanwhile, Senate President Pro Tem David Long, who now controls all the House bills that can constitutionally handle a tax hike, said his chamber won't touch the subject until the House shows some leadership. Long, a Fort Wayne Republican, beat back a Democratic amendment to resurrect the tax hike earlier this week.
Lawmakers suggest the stalemate will be resolved before they adjourn on April 29. But they've yet to work out the mechanics.
The tinkering Brown did Wednesday to the health initiative would, for instance, allow children to stay on a parent's insurance plan another five years, until age 24.
Brown also added options to buy dental and vision coverage to the plan, which is contained in Senate Bill 503. It advanced to the full House on a 9-1 vote.
Daniels wants to allow Hoosiers who earn up to double the poverty line to receive $500 a year in preventive care, a $1,100 health savings account and, if they run through that, up to $300,000 more in annual insurance coverage. The governor suggests enrollees pay in 5 percent of their salaries, while Brown would cap the premium at 3 percent of annual income.
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