MARCH 26, 2010
This Week in Health Care Reform
Health care reform legislation passed the House this week on a party-line vote. Late Sunday night, House Democrats approved the Senate health care reform package, sending the legislation to President Obama for his signature. On Tuesday, President Obama signed the underlying bill into law, yet the House has yet to finalize the package of “fixes” that will alter the final implications of the legislation.
Health Care Reform Negotiations
House Democrats Pass Health Care Reform Package: The House of Representatives approved the Senate health care reform bill Sunday night by a vote of 219 to 212. The vote marks the climactic finale to a year-long debate over health care reform. In the final vote, 34 Democrats joined all House Republicans in voting against the measure. Shortly thereafter, the House also passed a package of “fixes,” by a vote of 220-211, that was sent directly to the Senate for its approval through reconciliation. On Tuesday, President Obama signed into law the Senate health care reform bill, called the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.”
Republicans Force Senate to Send the Reconciliation Bill Back to the House: Shortly after the President signed the Senate bill into law, Senators began deliberations on the reconciliation bill. Reconciliation protocol restricts Senators to 20 hours of debate on the measure, but it does not limit the number of amendments that can be filed. In an expression of opposition to the bill, Republicans filed 29 amendments to the reconciliation package.
After 10 hours of continuous debate, Republicans were successful in eliminating two provisions related to college financial aid in the non-health care portion of the bill. The Senate parliamentarian ruled early Thursday morning that those two provisions violated the chamber’s rules, sending the legislation back to the House for a new vote. As a result, on Thursday afternoon, the Senate voted on the reconciliation bill without those two provisions and sent the bill back to the House for a vote on final passage. The House vote will likely come Thursday evening.
What Does This Health Care Reform Legislation Mean: While the health care reform bill extends insurance coverage to 32 million more Americans by 2019, the legislation has other far-reaching implications that will be phased in sooner, during a multi-year implementation period.
Several features of the new health care overhaul bill that would take effect in 2010 under the measure passed Sunday include:
* New product requirements beginning 6 months after enactment, including:
o Coverage for dependents up to age 26
o No lifetime maximum benefit limits
o And no cost sharing on preventive care for certain policyholders
* Temporary federal high risk pools;
* Tax credits for small employers; and
* Prohibition on pre-existing condition exclusions for children (beginning 6 months after enactment).
Most Americans will have until 2014 to purchase insurance or pay a penalty. Other elements of the bill that will not take effect until at least 2014 include insurance marketplaces called “exchanges”; rules requiring insurers to accept all applicants regardless of pre-existing conditions, and an expansion of state Medicaid programs.
A number of experts question whether health care reform will really drive down insurance premiums. America’s Health Insurance Plans ( AHIP), the trade group representing health insurers, outlines a series of concerns related to the legislation including a lack of provisions that address underlying health care costs, improve quality of care or ensure a stable risk pool. In addition, AHIP expressed concerns regarding new taxes on health coverage, which will likely increase premiums.
Additional Activities
Obama’s Executive Order on Abortion Funding: On Sunday afternoon, prior to the final House vote on health care reform, President Obama agreed to issue an Executive Order that would uphold the ban on federal funding for abortion . In so doing, he secured about a half-dozen votes from anti-abortion Democrats, led by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), who previously opposed the legislation. On Wednesday, President Obama signed the Executive Order banning the government from spending federal money to pay for abortions through plans offered on the insurance exchanges created under the measure.
States Filing Lawsuit to Fight Provision of Health Care Reform Bill: In response to the new health care reform legislation, states across the country have filed lawsuits asking the courts to declare the law unconstitutional and to bar its enforcement. On Monday,Attorneys General in 13 states, led by Florida, filed a joint lawsuit claiming that the new health care reforms violate state government rights in the U.S. Constitution and will force massive new spending on hard-pressed state governments. Joining Florida in the suit are Alabama, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington.
At the same time, the Attorney General in Virginia filed a separate suit contending that Congress has exceeded its power in mandating that people buy health insurance. Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli argues that the new law’s requirement clashes with Virginia law that exempts citizens from federal fines imposed for not having health insurance.
Senate Voting to Extend COBRA Until May 5: Senate Democrats plan another short-term extension of unemployment aid this week, setting up a face-off with Republicans, who are vowing to fight the extension if the $10 billion cost isn’t offset with spending cuts. The bill, currently set to expire on April 5, would extend a series of emergency programs – including funding for unemployment insurance benefits and COBRA health coverage for the jobless – and would hold off a deep cut in reimbursement rates for doctors who serve Medicare patients. The long-term extension has already passed in both the House and Senate, but the two measures are not expected to be reconciled and sent to the President’s desk until after the Easter recess.
President Obama Heads to Iowa to Speak on Health Care: President Obama headed to Iowa on Thursday to increase support for his health care legislation. This was President Obama’sfirst trip out ofWashington since signing health care reform legislation earlier this week. He spoke at the University of Iowa, in the city where he first announced his health care proposal during the Presidential campaign.
Public Opinion
Most Americans Want Republicans to Fight Health Care Reform Bill: In a recent CBS News poll, 62 percent of Americans said they want congressional Republicans to continue challenging the bill, while 33 percent said they should not. Disapproval of the bill has remained steady, with 46 percent saying they disapprove, including 32 percent who “strongly” disapprove. A majority of Americans continue to say that they find the bill to be confusing and do not understand what it means for them or their family.
American’s Split on Health Care Reform Passage: In a recent USA Today/Gallup poll, 42 percent of Americans said they were angry or disappointed with the recent passage of health care reform legislation. When asked to reveal party affiliation, 79 percent identified themselves as Republicans.
Polling Shows Support for State Lawsuits Against Government: National polling reveals significant opposition to the individual mandate. In a newly released Rasmussen report , 53 percent of those polled oppose the new mandate requiring every American to buy or obtain health insurance. Further, 49 percent of voters are in favor of their state suing the federal government to fight the mandate. Fifty-one percent say individual states should have the right to opt out of the health care plan entirely.
Looking Ahead
After this week’s final health care reform vote, President Obama plans to travel the country in the next few months to discuss the new law. Republicans have begun their own discussions of the law, with an eye towards the November elections.
Author Resource. Easy To Insure ME http://www.easytoinsureme.com
Watch the video related to health
The Three Basic Health Tips for Wellness by Better Body Nutrition Austin In this video Joseph summates all nutrition and wellness practices into three simple tips. These three tips are the secret to living a health long and happy life. This may seem very simple but its not doing these three things that cause illness, disease, discomfort and early death. Be My Friend www.myspace.com Better Body Clinical Nutrition www.nutritionaustin.com Joseph E. Strickland, ACN Applied Clinical Nutritionist This video was produced by Psychetruth http www.youtube.com psychetruth.blogspot.com Psychetruth is empowered by TubeMogul. www.tubemogul.com Music by Jimmy Gelhaar www.jimmyg.us © Copyright 2010 Target Public Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Related Post
Tags: Choices, eyes, glaucoma, HEALTH, health insurance reform, NHS
August 6th, 2011 at 12:06 pm
Of course AHIP provided the guidance that they did. However, one would have expected much more integrity from PWC than this whorish result.
August 6th, 2011 at 1:11 pm
The world health organization would be a good place to start.
August 6th, 2011 at 7:05 pm
democrats need a committee to change a light bulb. if some one says yes.they need a vote to see if he could say yes.a group to define just what yes means.how long yes is good for.and if there is any penalties for agreeing with yes. much like clintons debacle
August 6th, 2011 at 12:15 pm
pause at 0:06 and look behind amir in the widow theres jake and amir puppets!WTF!!!!press 9 to here amir say ball thing
August 6th, 2011 at 12:34 pm
i was eating a sandwitch when amir sneezed blood and i lost my apetit
August 6th, 2011 at 3:42 pm
pause at 0:06 and look behind amir in the widow theres jake and amir puppets!WTF!!!!
August 6th, 2011 at 11:17 pm
I lawl’d at “im like Oh – for life time”
August 7th, 2011 at 5:19 am
I like the random stuff in the background in 0:05 : The Puppets, the check for or by Amir and some kind of roboter^^
August 7th, 2011 at 1:50 pm
Foreigners come to this country and swear there is gold in the street. If they can come here and make a go of it what the hell is wrong with our citizens? The immigrants are not any more capable intellectuallly or physically, they are just willing to work hard.
August 7th, 2011 at 10:29 am
lol i love these clips so much I have the whole Jake and Amir playlist playing… non stop.
August 8th, 2011 at 2:47 am
Should have not fear at all.*
August 8th, 2011 at 10:05 am
Insurance crossing state lines won't fix anything. The companies would just merge with each other and we would have the same problems just on a national level.
Personally the only tort reform I would accept would have to include something that actually punishes bad doctors .. like if they make to many mistakes they lose their license. As things are now… they make a mistake .. big deal the insurance company pays and the doctor pays slightly higher rates. Sorry but when a doctor is careless people lose out big time.
Think about this… if Micheal Jackson wasn't famous would his doctor have been in as much trouble? The doctor was greedy and careless … resulting in a death. Right now a lawsuit is our only defense, take that away and you need to put something in its place.
Insurance fraud prevention … that is about the only point on the list that would be helpful… so what do you have in mind? Also remember that the biggest insurance frauds are done by hospitals and doctors.
August 8th, 2011 at 3:30 am
(insert funny quote said in video here)
August 9th, 2011 at 3:55 am
The short answer is yes.
The longer answer is that your reasoning is basically the path that fiscal conservatives (not necessarily all, but most Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats) wanted to take. And expansion of SCHIP, the elimination (or at least amelioriation) of pre-existing condition rules, and tort reform would have been a good start on the reform that wouldn't cost a trillion dollars.
This behemoth currently in the works is ridiculous. Combined with the cap and trade, it will cause financial grief for generations to come.
August 9th, 2011 at 12:36 am
@haydies110 dude, don’t rip off lines from shitty parody movies…
August 9th, 2011 at 8:06 am
@GingeeBread No really. =)
August 9th, 2011 at 6:58 pm
Aleferny: did you read the post at all before you replied? He's in favor of checkups and oil changes. He just thinks they should be paid for out of pocket because it would lower the cost for everyone. I really believe the average person would end up saving money if they went with a plan like this because his or her premiums would decrease by more than the cost of the annual checkups and the occasional sick visit.
August 9th, 2011 at 7:35 pm
It says the Democrats have no eithics. But we knew that from Chappaquiddick. This just proves nothing has changed in 40 years.
Yes, this health care reform proposal stinks. It is the worst possible solution, but that's what you should expect when a something is designed by committee as this has been.
Burris is literally the albatros hanging around the necks of the Democrats. It stinks so bad it must be making their eyes water, but they have to keep him or get fillibustered into permanent gridlock for the next thee years.
Or, even worse they could start bipartisan efforts and cooperate with the GOP on something. You remember what happened last time there was bipartisan cooperation in Congress – we got the Gramm-Leach-Bliley banking deregulation act of 1999, which led directly to the financial crash of last year, and we are still feeling the effects of that.
So remember, the only thing worse than Congressional gridlock is Congress accomplishing things with bipartisan support.
When Congress is in session, hold onto your wallet. When Congress starts agreeing on things – head for the hills!