Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Senator Jay Rockefeller said
Democrats shouldn’t tailor a health-care overhaul to the wishes
of Republican Senator Olympia Snowe and need to push for
legislation that includes a government-run insurance program.

“We can’t sort of hedge and say ‘what’s Olympia going to
do,’” Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, said in an
interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al
Hunt,” airing this weekend. “We’ve got to decide what we
want.”

Snowe, who this week voted for an $829 billion finance
committee bill, is the only Republican to back an overhaul
plan. Keeping the Maine lawmaker on board as the legislation
moves through the Senate may help attract Democrats facing re-
election battles and possibly other Republicans.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is trying to craft a
final measure that satisfies conflicting demands of his party,
such as whether to include a government-run plan.

“If we calculate so finely and so exquisitely, we’re
going to lose our leadership and our momentum,” said
Rockefeller, 72. “And right now yes, we did get her vote. As
she said yes for this one, it doesn’t mean for the next round
of votes.”

Rockefeller said Reid’s legislation would have to include
a government plan, or public option, to compete with private
companies, such as Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc.

Counterweight to ‘Malevolence’

“There has to be a counterweight to the malevolence of
the insurance industry,â€

Snowe, who is being courted for her support on the health
overhaul by the White House, has urged President Barack Obama
to drop the public option and instead suggested a so-called
trigger that would activate a public option only if private
insurers fail to make coverage affordable.

While Rockefeller, a member of the finance committee,
voted for the panel’s plan, he was critical of it because it
failed to include the public option.

He and other Democrats say the public option is the best
way to lower costs so more uninsured Americans can afford
coverage. The finance committee measure instead offers $6
billion in seed money for nonprofit insurance cooperatives.

“There were 30 Democrats that signed a petition asking
Harry for a public option,â€

Negotiating Rates

Reid is “more likelyâ€

That proposal would be similar to an amendment offered by
Senator Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, that was rejected
by the finance panel.

Rockefeller also said he favors greater checks on
insurance companies. He said he would introduce an amendment
requiring insurers to spend 85 percent of their revenue on
health care for consumers.

“This is in a couple of the House bills,” he said. “I
think it’s a discipline which works very, very well.”

Rockefeller has expressed concern over a plan to impose a
tax on insurance companies’ most-expensive policies because it
would affect coal-miners and other working-class Americans. The
finance committee bill is the only one of five overhaul
versions passed by House and Senate panels to include the levy.

The 40 percent excise tax, which would begin in 2013,
would be placed on insurers of employer-sponsored health plans
with benefits exceeding $8,000 for individual coverage and
$21,000 for families. Thresholds are increased by $1,850 and
$5,000 for retirees 55 and older and for employees in union-
heavy industries.

Antitrust Exemption

Rockefeller also said he would back a plan to repeal the
insurance industries’ antitrust exemption to spur competition
and control costs, in separate legislation.

Christine Varney, head of the U.S. Justice Department’s
antitrust division, told the Senate Judiciary Committee this
week that ending the exemption would bolster competition,
though she stopped short of calling on Congress to act.

Rockefeller said he’s optimistic that health-care
legislation would pass, saying the odds are “pretty good”
that Obama will sign a bill this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Catherine Dodge in
Washington at cdodge1@bloomberg.net