Health care legislation advances in Senate
AP PHOTO
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., speaks after the U.S. Senate voted to begin debate on legislation for a broad healthcare overhaul.
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Published: November 21, 2009
Updated: November 22, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats united to push health care legislation past a key Senate hurdle over the opposition of Republicans who were eager to inflict a punishing defeat on President Barack Obama. There was not a vote to spare.
The 60-39 vote Saturday night cleared the way for a bruising, full-scale debate on the bill after lawmakers return from their break for Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday.
The legislation is designed to extend coverage to roughly 31 million of the nearly 50 million Americans who lack it, crack down on insurance company practices that deny or dilute benefits and curtail the growth of spending on medical care nationally.
The United States, with a population exceeding 300 million, is the only developed nation that does not have a comprehensive national health care plan. The government provides coverage for the poor and elderly, but most Americans rely on private insurance, usually received through their employers.
The House of Representatives approved its version of the bill earlier this month on a near party line vote of 220-215. Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, has said he wants the Senate to follow suit by year’s end. Timing on any final compromise was unclear.
The spectator galleries were full for the unusual Saturday night Senate showdown, and applause broke out briefly when the vote was announced. In a measure of the significance of the moment, senators sat quietly in their seats, standing only when they were called upon to vote.
In the final minutes of a daylong session, Reid accused Republicans of trying to stifle a historic debate the country needed.
“Imagine if, instead of debating whether to abolish slavery, instead of debating whether giving women and minorities the right to vote, those who disagreed had muted discussion and killed any vote,“ he said.
The Republican leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell, said the vote was anything but procedural — casting it as a referendum on the bill itself, which he said would raise taxes, cut the government’s Medicare program that provides coverage for the elderly, and create a “massive and unsustainable debt.“
All 58 Senate Democrats and two independents voted to advance the bill. All 39 votes in opposition were cast by Republicans. Republican Sen. George Voinovich was the only senator not to vote.
For all the drama, the result of the Saturday night showdown had been sealed a few hours earlier, when two final Democratic holdouts, Sens. Mary Landrieu and Blanche Lincoln, announced they would join in clearing the way for a full debate.
“It is clear to me that doing nothing is not an option,“ said Landrieu, who won $100 million in the legislation to help her state pay the costs of health care for the poor.
Lincoln, who faces a tough re-election next year, said the evening vote will “mark the beginning of consideration of this bill by the U.S. Senate, not the end.“
Both stressed they were not committing in advance to vote for the bill that ultimately emerges from next month’s debate.
Of particular contentiousness to moderates is a provision for the government to sell insurance in competition with private companies, subject to state approval — a part of Reid’s bill expected to come under significant pressure as the debate unfolds.
Even so, their announcements marked a major victory for Reid and the White House in a year-end drive to enact the most sweeping changes to the nation’s health care system in a half-century or more.
At the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs issued a statement saying the president was gratified by the vote, which he says “brings us one step closer to ending insurance company abuses, reining in spiraling health care costs, providing stability and security to those with health insurance, and extending quality health coverage to those who lack it.“
The legislation would require most Americans to carry insurance and provide subsidies to those who couldn’t afford it. Large companies could incur costs if they did not provide coverage to their workforce. The insurance industry would come under significant new regulation under the bill, which would first ease and then ban the practice of denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions.
Congressional budget analysts put the legislation’s cost at $979 billion over a decade and said it would reduce deficits over the same period while extending coverage to 94 percent of the eligible population.
___
Associated Press writer Donna Cassata contributed to this article.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Reader Reactions
Posted by Will on November 23, 2009 at 4:41 pm
“To hech will you pleas for compansion for the uninsured, rights of the unwillly, etc.“
Could somebody please see that the cat stays away from the keyboard?
This “Cat” was more concerned with getting his point out there versus spelling or grammar. And just trying to learn politics from the “chicago-style” people and Dems- Win at all costs. don’t let the truth or wishes of the public to get in your way. Maybe we can start our own community “disorganizers” like acorn, we could call ourselves the “Nuts!
“The Gloves are off Now!
Posted by FanTastic on November 23, 2009 at 2:39 pm
This bill will cost just under $1 Trillion over 10 years according to the GAO.
Again that PROJECTED figure for the FIRST 10 years is a result of cooking the books.
The approximately $1 trillion dollar figure balances 10 yrs revenue against just six years of projected expenses. (revenue stream aka TAXES, would begin in 2010 while services would not begin until 2014)
Anybody have a figure for what the projected costs are for the second 10 years(i.e. 2020-2030)
I wonder what wikipedia or the CBO says about that?
So far all I hear is crickets chirping.
Good evening, HaHa.
For concrete examples of government ineptitude, I hold up Social Security, Medicare and the VA hospital system. What makes you think they will be any more skilled at handling health care, hm? They can’t even come up with a simple, easy to understand and implement plan. This is a trainwreck looking for the right curve. I stand by what I said: America cannot afford it. If they’re willing to whack the likes of the Department of Energy and the National Endowment for the Arts to help fund it, I might be more agreeable. If they root out the waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare, I might believe it. So far, all they’ve shown me is just how badly this will go just like every other huge federal program.
The threats to “freedom” that this bill presents are the same that Iraq (or even Al Qaeda) presented. Absolutely none.
The continuation of our Health Care System is simply irresponsible. No program (particularly government-run) will ever gain bi-partisan support due to the divisive nature of our politics and media.
If any of you are dissatisfied with this initiative - then BLAME THE REPUBLICANS for doing nothing about the problem when they controlled the entire federal government.
wpanak,
Thank you for serving in Desert Storm and your service to this country.
Mind if I add my two cents to your previous post?
I seem to recall that numerous Kurdish villages were gased as part of Hussein
ethic cleansing policy. He was responsible for killing thousand of unarmed innocent Kurds. Some were dumped into sallow graves, but a lot were left on the ground to rot. I have often wondered why Clinton did go not after Hussein when troops were there and be done with this sub human being.
In so far as Vietnam is concerned, when American troops came home, they were frequently spat upon and called baby killers. Not by me as I had family members there. Which makes me older than dirt.
ObamaCare..Anything that is rammed down my throat against my free will could not possibly be good for me or anyone else. I want no parts of his fiasco.
I respectfully say that you are totally wrong to support this bill in any shape or form.
wpanak…you’re right the WMD debate has NOTHING to do with healthcare.
I didn’t bring it up.Ty did, thank you very little.
The quotes you choose to refute do not prove the WMD’s even though you acknowledge Saddam had them.He had yellowcake too.
It merely illustrates that the WMD conversation existed long before George W Bush.
Do you dispute that?
If you want to be in the ‘Bush lied’ crowd thats fine, but you’re wrong.
If you want to be in the anthropogenic global warming crowd, that’s fine too but once again you’re wrong.( I suppose you’ve heard about the ‘hacked’ e-mails showing a minor conspiracy to cover up conflicting data.I’ll provide a link ASAP)
And to get back on topic if you want to believe that a goverment run healthcare system is the way to go ,you’re wrong about that too.Not even wikipedia can provide you with data of ONE goverment program that has ultimately operated below the original projected costs.Maybe this will be the first, but I doubt it.
When Harry Reid conjures up 10 year costs that are based on 10 year financing against only 6 year projected costs, even you have got to know something doesn’t add up.
Either that or your parents wasted a whole lotta money on your degree.The massive debt that this administration is running up is UNSUSTAINABLE and I think you know it.
That’s why I and a MAJORITY of other Americans oppose this bill.
So go ahead and start sending in those extra tax dollars that you are so willing to part with now because if the dems pass this boondoggle of a bill( once again I doubt it) they are going to need about 50% of your gross income by the 11th year to pay for it.
Are you ready for that?
http://www.singlepayeraction.org/blog/?p=1745
Single Payer Activists to Congress: Defeat Democratic Health Bill
Filed under: News — russell @ 11:51 am
The Democratic health care bill is a massive bailout of the private health insurance industry.
It is convoluted and complicated.
And it should be defeated.
That’s the take of a number of leading single payer activists.
They will hold a press conference the day before Thanksgiving.
And call on Congress to defeat the more than 2,000 page bill.
Start from scratch.
And pass single payer, Medicare for all, national health insurance.
The press conference will be held in the Murrow Room at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 at 10 a.m.
The press conference is being organized by Single Payer Action.
“To hech will you pleas for compansion for the uninsured, rights of the unwillly, etc.“
Could somebody please see that the cat stays away from the keyboard?
PA-24: I am dumbfounded by your thickness and inability to seperate quotations from the broader context.
Yes, Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. He used mustard gas on Iranians during the Iran-Iraq war, and on his own citizens immediately after we liberated Kuwait in 1991. We, the US ARMY, found much evidence for a WMD program when we were on Iraq soil in 1991.
At that time you were 6 years old. I remember when I was that age. That was about a year after the Tet offensive and there was a body count every night on the news.
What do you remember about the Kurds being gassed?
Yes, Iraq’s thwarting of UN inspections throughout the 1990’s caused a lot of concern, including UN sactions, the withdrawl of UN inspectors, and surgical bombing strikes during the Clinton administration.
Yes, there was an ongoing assumption by many that Saddam continued to amass WMD’s, and that assumption continued after 9/11. That was a widely held belief.
However, many Democrats who held this belief argued against attacking Iraq because Iraq was not accountable for the 9/11 attacks.
That is the context that you and mrright are conveniently ignoring, even though it is in that snopes webpage.
In the face of that opposition, Bush and Cheney (mostly Cheney: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_cheney#Iraq_War ) fabricated reports of WMD and sent Colin Powell to the UN to present the fabricated report. Colin Powell acknowledges this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Powell#Secretary_of_State
So yes, the quotes are true, but if one ignores history, the sequence of events, and the context that the executive branch controls military strategy and intelligence, and that the Bush administration fabricated intelligence, duped a number of Democrats (including Barack Obama), sacrificed Colin Powell, and justified the Iraq war based on all that, then certainly one could read the quotes and the word “True” and believe the Democrats were equally culpable.
Now, what does that all have to do with health care?
The 10 year number is horrible decieving.
The taxes start IMMEDIATELY.
The benefits don’t change until 2014-2015.
So you are comparing 10 years of revenue to 6 years of expenses.
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