Senate Healthcare Reform Bill – An Overview
Let the battle begin!!
Late on Saturday night, November 21, 2009, the Senate voted to begin debate on a healthcare reform bill. On a strictly party line vote of 60-39 the Senate vote allowed the debate that could change the future of America. The bill is aimed at providing health insurance for the uninsured citizens in America, whether they want healthcare insurance or not. Max Baucus (D-Montana) calls the bill the largest piece of social policy legislation since the great depression
There are many issues that are currently under debate within the 2000 page bill. The different bills that have come out of the different Senate committees contain many points of distinction, that all need to be discussed and voted upon.
The bill passed out of the Senate Health, Labor. Education, and Pensions (HELP) committee is billed as The Affordable Health Choices Act. It calls for the establishment of dozens of new agencies and commissions to regulate and monitor the healthcare of citizens. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the bill to cost less than $615 billion over 10 years. The bill requires:
- Everyone to obtain health insurance
- Mandates minimal coverage in every policy
- Prohibits denial for pre-existing conditions
- Eliminates annual or life-time caps on benefits
- No changes in existing plans
The bill will pay for the expanded coverage by:
- Fines of $750 per individual who does not comply (There are exceptions)
- Taxes on medical devices
- Savings from switching to medical Intelligent Technology (IT)
- Savings in fraud and abuse
- Promoting preventative care and healthy lifestyles
There are provisions for a ‘public option’ (really a government-run healthcare plan), with the option of states to opt out of the program if they meet certain requirements. The bill aims to make Americans healthier, have better access to healthcare, and to promote better and less costly healthcare to the average American. The bill claims to provide health insurance for up to 94% of all American citizens.
A separate bill was passed out of the Senate Finance committee in a 14-9 party line vote. The CBO estimates its cost at 856 billion over 10 years. The main differences between the Finance committee’s bill and the HELP bill are:
- No mention of a ‘public option’ in the Finance bill
- Tax on ‘Cadillac health insurance plans’
- Ban on federal funds for abortion
The latest polls show a declining support of the healthcare reform bills as they are currently being discussed in Congress. Rasmussen’s latest poll shows only 35% of Americans believe passage of the current healthcare bills would be better than no bill at all. 54% of those polled say no bill would be better than any bill introduced into congress thus far.
The main issues to watch as the bills undergo revisions and amendments are:
- Extent of ‘public option’ funding and opt-out provisions
- Federal funding for abortions
- Cuts in Medicare to pay for the Healthcare plans
- Mandates on minimal insurance policy requirements
- Penalties for not complying with the plan
We will keep you updated on the progress of these bills, any amendments, or revisions as the debate unfolds on Capitol Hill. We will also report on the latest poll numbers as Americans follow this process over the coming weeks.
A good summary for sure. The public option still needs to be hammered out, and it will be. The record of success in many states including Ohio is just too strong!
There is an exorbitant amount of cost going into and surrounding the establishment of this bill. However these costs are only in addition to the overall cost of health care. Complete health care reform is necessary, not simply the provider care reform which we are currently awaiting. . According to Eva Mor author of (Making the Golden Years Golden), “The administration of the existing health delivery system is bloated with waste and unnecessary cost. If information was shared by all providers of health services and all insurers by using computerized systems to store all medical records, it would cut costs and reduce errors that would save and improve lives.” http://www.ourblook.com/component/option,com_sectionex/Itemid,200076/id,8/view,category/#catid107
Preventative care is something we need desperately in this country so the real question is going to be, how do we get it? Especially when there are so many parties who have private interests at stake in the face of reform. Health care is a public service which every American will eventually require at some point in their lives, however as it stands, health care has been diluted by bureaucracy, industry, and politics.
Great job America, now health insurance is guaranteed to stay unobtainable to the people that need it the most.