The Senate passed a historic $871 billion health care reform bill early Thursday morning, December 24th, handing President Obama a Christmas Eve victory on his top domestic priority.
The bill passed in a 60-39 party line vote after months of heated partisan debate. Every member of the Democratic caucus backed the measure; every Republican opposed it. Summary of the Senate bill
The bill now must now be merged with a $1 trillion plan approved by the House of Representatives in November. Democrats hope to have a bill ready for Obama's signature before the president's State of the Union address early next year.
There are major differences in the House and Senate bills, namely the "public option," which the LWVUS continues to advocate for. We will see what plays out in the first weeks of the new decade.
On November 7th, the House passed the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962) by a vote of 220-215. The bill ensures access to quality, stable, affordable health care; promotes competition; slows the growth in health care costs; and improves the quality of care. While this bill is not perfect, it is an historic step forward that we believe needs to be supported.
The Affordable Health Care for America Act. Key provisions are:
1. Reduces the deficit more
2. Ends health insurance companies' blanket exemption from anti-trust laws
3. Extends coverage for young people up to 27th birthday through parents' insurance
4. Creates a new, voluntary, public long-term care insurance program
5. Exempts small businesses with payrolls below $500,000 from employer mandate
6. Limits the 'Health Care Surcharge' to millionaires
7. Addresses geographic variation in Medicare payments/Moving to Medicare payments rewarding quality and cost-effectiveness
8. Begins closing the Medicare Part D "donut hole" immediately
9. Provides immediate help for the uninsured (interim high-risk pool)
10. Secretary of Health and Human Services is required to negotiate drug prices on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries.
More information
This bill includes a public health insurance option which will provide another choice in many areas of the US where one or two insurance companies dominate the market. Unfortunately this public option lost a powerful cost-saver in the shuffle. It lost the Medicare + 5% start-up provision and now has the Secretary of HHS have to negotiate rates for providers that participate in the public option.. That means the public option will have to start out from day one negotiating rates with a health industry that would like to see it fail. That could be a problem.
However, this bill is more in line with our League's position than the current Senate bill and contains many potential good things for North Carolina.
Health Care Reform: Reality Check New resource from the White House to challenge the lies and
rumors circulating on health care reform proposals.
H.R. 3200, America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, District by District Impact (Tool for health care reform advocates. Just click on your district.)
Kaiser Family Foundation: Side by Side Comparison of Major Health
Care Reform proposals
Other documents to support HR3200
January 21, 2010
To: Members of the U.S. House of Representatives
From: Mary G. Wilson, President
Re: Enact Health Care Reform Now
The League of Women Voters urges you to do what is necessary to finish work on health care reform in order to send a bill quickly to the President for his signature. While many of the provisions of the House bill are preferable to those from the Senate, we urge you to accept the Senate bill if other paths to enactment of comprehensive reform are not available.
We have a health care crisis in America. Too many citizens lack adequate health insurance coverage and rising costs threaten everyone. The failure of Congress to act on these issues over decades has simply compounded the problems and undermined faith in government.
Both the House and Senate have now passed comprehensive health care legislation, and the bills share many essential elements: they greatly expand health care coverage to include millions more Americans; they protect the coverage that currently delivers care to most; they contain essential elements to reduce costs over the long term; and they accomplish these goals at a reasonable cost. Either bill would represent an important, indeed an historic, step forward. Leaving the current system in place, after both the House and Senate have acted, and acted responsibly, would be a travesty.
Opponents of health care reform have adopted a strategy of fear, delay and obfuscation. They have relied on the anti-majoritarian rules of the Senate. And they have misled and lied about the provisions of the legislation. These fundamentally anti-democratic tactics cannot be allowed to prevail.
Medicare was enacted over strong opposition from those who opposed "socialized medicine." Social Security was adopted despite loud and prolonged complaints. Yet, both these systems are now sacrosanct. Many other accomplishments, from civil rights to environmental protection, were controversial when first adopted but have proven to be critical steps forward. Health care reform is part of that tradition.
We understand that there may be a number of ways for health care reform to succeed. None of these possibilities will accomplish all that needs to be done, and Congress will need to revisit many issues in coming years. But any of these alternatives moves us toward successful health care reform and thus is better than the status quo.
The League of Women Voters strongly urges you not to miss this historic opportunity to enact comprehensive health care reform legislation.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 28, 2009
LEAGUE RECOGNIZES SENATE FOR PASSING HISTORIC HEALTH CARE REFORM
Hopeful that Final Bill will Include Public Insurance Option
Washington, D.C. + League of Women Voters National President Mary G. Wilson today acknowledged the Senate's passage of health care reform legislation before the Christmas holidays as a step forward in the struggle to extend health care coverage to all Americans.
"The League is encouraged to see the Senate take action that moves health care reform closer to final passage," said Mary G. Wilson, national president of the League of Women Voters. "However, we are extremely disappointed that this deal came at the expense of a public insurance option, an element the League believes is crucial to protecting consumer choice and controlling health care costs in the long-run."
"The harsh reality is that we can no longer afford to do nothing, and key provisions of this bill are a step in the right direction," Wilson continued. "The Senate bill extends coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans, expands Medicaid coverage for the poor, subsidizes some of the costs of care for individuals, and prevents insurance companies from denying insurance to those with pre-existing conditions or dropping coverage due to an illness."
"These are historic reforms that should not be underestimated, and will greatly reduce the suffering that has gone on for too long in this health care crisis," Wilson continued. "Our hope is that the bill that comes out of Conference will include these provisions and more, including a government-run insurance option for those who cannot afford private coverage or find adequate coverage in their area."
"Americans are counting on Congress and the President to finally put an end to this health care crisis," Wilson concluded.
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League of Women Voters of Orange-Durham-Chatham, North Carolina. All rights reserved.
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