RSS
Home
Historic health insurance bill passes House
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
The lights burn inside of the House of Representatives side of the U.S. Capitol late Saturday night, Nov. 7, 2009 in Washington as the health care bill is debated
In a major victory for President Barack Obama and after months of divisive politics that shook the nation, the Democratic-controlled House narrowly passed historic health care legislation to expand coverage to tens of millions of Americans who are currently living without health insurance and places tough new restrictions on the insurance industry.
The final vote on the historic measure was 220-215. Only one Republican — Rep. Joseph Cao of Louisiana — voted for the measure; 39 Democrats voted against it.
President Obama praised the House in a statement and said he is "absolutely confident" that the Senate will pass its version of the legislation. "I look forward to signing it into law by the end of the year," he said.
Supporter’s of the passage of the House’s bill is comparing the achievement to the passage of the government’s social security pension program in 1935 and the Medicare health insurance for the elderly in 1965.
The Senate has yet to begin their floor debate on its own version of health insurance reform. That debate may be weeks away, with Senate Democratic leaders still negotiating over the details of their legislation.
If the Senate ratifies its bill, members from House and Senate would then meet to negotiate a final compromised bill. That compromised bill would then have to be voted on by the House and Senate in order to make the bill law.
The legislation would require most Americans to carry health insurance and provide federal subsidies to those who otherwise could not afford it. Large companies would have to offer coverage to their employees. Both consumers and companies would be slapped with penalties if they defied the government's mandates.
Current insurance industry practices such as denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions would be banned, and insurers would no longer be able to charge higher premiums on the basis of gender or medical history. In an expansion of health insurance reform, the health insurance industry would lose its exemption from federal antitrust restrictions on price fixing and market allocation.
In essence, the measure would create a federally regulated marketplace where consumers could shop for health insurance coverage. In the bill's most controversial provision, the government would sell health insurance.
The bottom line is that for the approximately 36 million Americans who currently do not have health insurance mostly because of non affordability or because of the industries’ denial for pre-existing health issues, those Americans are now closer than ever to being able to find affordable coverage that will enable them to receive medical attention that can save their lives and the lives of family and friends.
In a show of rare solidarity, conservatives from both political parties joined forces to impose strict new restrictions on abortion coverage in insurance policies to be sold to individuals and small groups. They prevailed on a roll call of 240-194.
The vote added to the Democratic bill an amendment sponsored by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Michigan, and others, that prohibits individuals who receive insurance subsidies from purchasing any plan that pays for elective abortions.
House Democratic leaders agreed Friday night to allow a floor vote on the Stupak amendment to the bill in order to win the support of about three dozen Democrats who feared that the original bill would have subsidized abortions.
Oddly, the abortion vote only strengthened support for the legislation, clearing the way for the conservative Democrats to vote for it.
As always Louisianans the Examiner is interested in knowing what you think. Now that the House has passed its bill to reform health insurance, will the Senate do the same? And if so, will Louisianans who are statistically near the bottom of national health issues, benefit from this change? Inquiring minds want to know.
Until the next time Louisianans, Good Day, God Bless and Good Fishing.
House passes health care reform
Related Articles:
Comments
