Democrats push to retool health care programs for millions

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dental work for seniors on Medicare. An end to sky’s-the-limit pricing on prescription drugs. New options for long-term care at home. Coverage for low-income people locked out of Medicaid by ideological battles.

Those are just some of the changes to health care that Democrats want to achieve with President Joe Biden’s massive “Build Back Better” plan. The $3.5 trillion domestic agenda bill touches almost all aspects of American life, from taxes to climate change, but the health care components are a cornerstone for Democrats, amplified during the COVID-19 crisis.

For the nearly 145 million Americans covered by government health programs, along with their families and communities, the investment in the nation's services could make a difference in the quality of life for decades.

“It's a holistic look at how health care can be not just expanded, but better directed to the needs that people actually have,” Kathleen Sebelius, federal health secretary under President Barack Obama, said of the Biden bill. “You've got a plan that's really aimed at the serious gaps in health care that are still causing people to either go totally uninsured, or run out of money in the course of their treatments.”

But Democrats can only succeed if they bridge divisions among themselves. Don't look for Republicans to help.

With Medicare's long-term finances under a cloud, Republicans say now is not the time to add new benefits. They are planning to oppose not just the health care provisions, but the entire Biden package, voting lockstep against it as too big, costly and a slide toward “socialism.”

Mindful of the politics ahead, Democrats are assembling the package with their slim hold on Congress. Instead of launching new experiments that many progressives prefer, they have...