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Holly Bailey

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Posted Wednesday, July 15, 2009 11:52 AM

Senate Committee Approves Health Care Bill

Holly Bailey
One down, four more committees to go: In a party line vote, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, aka HELP, approved a bill that would overhaul the nation’s health care. It’s the first committee to act on President Obama’s push to tackle health care reform. The HELP bill, approved in a 13-10 vote, would require Americans to have insurance and provide a federal subsidy for those who can’t afford it. Under the bill, employers would be required to provide insurance to their workers or pay the federal government a fee to do so. It would also give people the right to enroll in that frequently mentioned public plan. The big question mark is cost, and from here, the bill will to go the Senate Finance Committee, which is still trying to figure out how to pay for it all. At a private meeting Monday, President Obama pressed Finance chair Max Baucus to get a bill out of his committee by the end of the week, but it’s unclear if that will actually happen. With Obama’s blessing, Baucus has been trying to strike a deal that would both Republicans and conservative Democrats, who have raised questions about the bill’s cost and its impact on the growing federal deficit.

But the drama isn't just limited to the Senate side. In the House, Democrats unveiled their version of reform yesterday, which is similar to what the Senate HELP committee approved. Three House committees must now take up the legislation, before it heads to a vote of the full House, where Speaker Nancy Pelosi faces a tough fight to keep Democrats on board. Not unlike the Senate, Blue Dog Democrats and the House GOP have been openly skeptical about the cost of an overhaul. Obama is hoping both chambers will approve their respective bills by the August recess, in hopes that lawmakers can return and negotiate a final sweeping bill in the fall. But with concerns about cost growing by the day, Democrats have been openly skeptical that will happen. Still, Obama, who has ratcheted up his public lobbying for health care reform in recent days, is celebrating every victory he can get, even if it’s a small one. In a statement from the White House this morning, the president praised the HELP committee’s vote this morning. “The HELP committee’s success should give us hope, but it should not give us pause,” Obama said. “It should instead provide the urgency for both the House and Senate to finish their critical work on health reform before the August recess.”
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Posted By: drewand (July 15, 2009 at 4:04 PM)

This bill is necessary. The cost of healthcre is way out of control. With this new bill is the problem with bilking medicare and insurance companies going to go away? Is preventive medicine going to be featured? Is someone going to tackle the pharmaceutical problems? Affordable malpractice insurance? Getting awards for malpractice suits under control? Will the Eagle land or crash? I hope that these and other problems that plaque the medical industry will be addressed, dealt with and reconciled. If not this could be a short term fix!

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Posted By: drewand (July 15, 2009 at 3:53 PM)

This bill is necessary. The cost of healthcre is way out of control. With this new bill is the problem with bilking medicare and insurance companies going to go away? Is preventive medicine going to be featured? Is someone going to tackle the pharmaceutical problems? Affordable malpractice insurance? Getting awards for malpractice suits under control? Will the Eagle land or crash? I hope that these and other problems that plaque the medical industry will be addressed, dealt with and reconciled. If not this could be a short term fix!

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Posted By: Dredd (July 15, 2009 at 1:30 PM)

Can anyone explain the cost v savings dynamics. One argument is that it will cost too much if we do make it law, but the counter argument is that we will go bankrupt if we do not make it law.

The Senate Budget Committee Chairman is concerned long term about the economy, but is not against the bill he has seen:

http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2009/07/ultimate-penalty-for-deceit.html

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