Health care votes begin to change; Rep. Dennis Kucinich switches from No to Yes on Wednesday. Monday, Democrats thought that they had enough votes to pass the health care bill, but couldn’t show that any of the Democrats that voted no the first time around had switched their votes to a yes. Less than 72 hours are left before the final votes will be taken.
President Obama has been heavily campaigning over the last few days in trying to get even one democrat to switch their vote in hopes that it would lead others to switch their vote.
Wednesday, Ohio Liberal Rep. Dennis Kucinich announced that he will switch his No vote to a Yes vote when it is time to vote for Obama’s health care bill.
"I think the votes are there. I always believed that," said Rep. John Larson of Connecticut, the Democratic Caucus chairman.
On Monday night, Larsen said: "We have the votes and that's all that matters."
Majority Whip Jim Clyburn appeared on “Meet the Press” Sunday and said that the votes were short.
"We don't have (the votes) as of this morning. But we've been working this thing all weekend. We'll be working it going into the week," Clyburn said and added that "the votes will be there when we vote."
"When we bring the bill to the floor, we'll have the votes," said Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker.
President Obama made some last minute pleas to Democrats who originally pleaded No to the Health Care Bill the first time around and travelled to three different states over the past few days. Obama sounded more confident on Monday about the vote.
In an ABC interview Monday, Obama said: "I believe we're going to get the votes, we're going to make this happen."
On March 6, President Obama urged Congress to make the final vote on the health care bill. Obama spoke out about the changes he would like to see pass with the health care reform bill. He specifically those individuals with pre-existing conditions being allowed to purchase insurance, and a stipend for senior citizens who have high drug costs, but that are not high enough for government assistance, according to the Associated Press.
On July 1st, 2009 President Obama said in a health care speech: Intermountain Health Care in Salt Lake City, Utah…offers high quality health care at costs that are well below average, in some cases 30% lower than other communities. He goes on to say that if it can be done there, it can be done everywhere in this country.
Utah has the lowest per capita healthcare spending rate in the nation at $3,972. The national average is $7,026, according to a July 2009 Salt Lake Tribune article.
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