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Democrats in Final Push on US Healthcare Overhaul
WASHINGTON - A final push to deliver a sweeping U.S. healthcare overhaul to President Barack Obama begins this week as House of Representatives Democratic leaders prepare for difficult negotiations with the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (L) listens to Senator Max Baucus after the U.S. Senate approved President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul on Capitol Hill in Washington, December 24, 2009. (REUTERS/Jim Young)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is set to meet on Tuesday with House committee chairmen to map out strategy and set their priorities for landmark healthcare reform legislation that the congressional Democrats hope to deliver to Obama within weeks.
The House passed its healthcare bill on November 7. The Senate passed its bill on December 24. There are some significant differences between the bills that must be ironed out as Democrats merge them into a single bill that the House and Senate would have to pass before sending it to Obama to sign.
Healthcare reform is Obama's top legislative priority. Republicans solidly oppose it and have threatened new procedural roadblocks in the Senate to slow things down.
Negotiations between the House and Senate Democrats must resolve differences between the two bills over abortion funding restrictions, new taxes to pay for the overhaul, and whether to include a new government-run health insurance program.
Democrats hope to secure final congressional passage perhaps before Obama delivers the annual State of the Union address to Congress later this month or in early February.
That would allow Obama and his fellow Democrats to turn to other issues ahead of November's congressional elections in which they will try to protect their majorities in the House and Senate. These include trying to lower the U.S. unemployment rate and to address national security concerns following the botched December 25 bombing attempt aboard a U.S. airliner.
The stakes are high for businesses, the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare industry, Democrats and Obama. Businesses that provide coverage to employees have been struggling to cope with steadily rising insurance costs. Polls show that the public is wary of the proposed overhaul and what it could mean for their household budgets and medical coverage.
Democrats are anxious to settle their differences, deliver a major legislative victory to Obama and begin highlighting the benefits of healthcare reform, which aims to rein in rapidly increasing costs and would prohibit insurance companies from excluding people from coverage due to pre-existing conditions.
'AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE'
Democratic leaders could bypass a formal conference between the House and the Senate, shutting out Republicans and avoiding potential partisan procedural roadblocks, to work behind closed doors in concert with the White House to strike a compromise.
"Millions of Americans are looking forward to new tax credits to help them afford the healthcare coverage and new rules putting patients ahead of insurance companies," said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, who played a major role in writing the Senate version of the bill.
"That's exactly what health reform will do and we are eager to get our reform bill to the president's desk as quickly as possible," Baucus added.
Democrats have little room to maneuver as they strive to maintain the 60 votes in the 100-seat Senate and at least 218 in the 435-seat House that are needed to pass the legislation.
"I think they will get this done," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a healthcare reform advocacy group. "There are some difficult issues, for sure, that need to be worked through."
One key difference is over a proposed new government-run insurance program to compete with private insurers. The House bill includes it. The Senate bill does not.
With conservative Democratic Senator Ben Nelson and independent Senator Joe Lieberman threatening to withdraw their support if the final bill includes this so-called public option, the proposal is unlikely to be included.
Democrats also must resolve differences over abortion language. The Senate bill includes a compromise between Nelson, an abortion opponent, and abortion rights supporters that prohibits public money from being used for abortions.
The House bill includes even more restrictive language backed by a bloc of Democrats who have vowed to withhold support from the final bill if it is changed.
There also are large differences over financing of the bill. The House version includes a 5.4 percent surtax on millionaires. The Senate bill includes a tax on high-cost health plans, a provision opposed by labor unions. The Senate bill also increases the Medicare payroll tax on high earners.
There also are a lot of similarities between the House and Senate bills. Both would create exchanges in which people without employer-sponsored coverage as well as small businesses could shop for insurance. The Senate bill calls for state-based exchanges while the House calls for a national exchange.
(Reporting by Donna Smith; Editing by David Alexander and Will Dunham)
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43 Comments so far
Show AllEnd the DEM Health "Care" Deform Bill with extreme revilification!
"to work behind closed doors in concert with the White House to strike a compromise" is how Obamacare started (Billy Tauzin capitulation) and the results are equally predictable...whatever crumbs of actual reform remained in the House Bill will be removed and the immoral corporate welfare program disguised as health care reform that the Senate approved will be signed by Obama.
After LBJ signed the civil rights bill in 1965 he stated "we (the Democrats) have lost the South for a generation". When Obama praises his health care bill in the state of union message he needs to mention that Democrats have lost their base for a generation.
While health care "reform" may not be Obama's Waterloo, it will take down many Senate and House Democrats in the 2010 elections.
Universal Health Care is the only moral option.
The VAST majority of We the People agree with your statement but, alas, W.T.P. are speaking at deaf ears again. One would think that in a (Ha-Ha!) DEMOCRACY, something of this great importance would warrant a special vote from the PEOPLE and not be decided by the bloated, gloated, "socialized health care" millionaire recipients in D.C.. (i.e. politicians AGAINST HR 676 and Single-Payer.)
Congress's idea of "reform" is to make their support of the corporate "bribe industry" in-your-face to emphasize how little power W.T.P. have against the lobbyists (LEGAL BRIBERY ACTION COMMITTEE!) when it comes to decision-making.
If this goes ahead and W.T.P. pay either the insurance fees or the penalties, please don't EVER complain about the system again, because you only support it by giving in to it out of fear.
I am not familiar with what W.T.P stands for. Could you clarify?
Oh sorry, I get it. W.T.P means We The People. What I need clarification on (constitutionally) is how these rules of the House & Senate are set up. The whole system of committees etc. sounds undemocratic. Also how can we get legislation so that elections are publicly financed and the congress people be prohibited from retiring and becoming lobbyists.
And it is the most economical option for the people. Why aren't large corporations other than those of Big Insurance and Big Pharma campaigning heavily for a single-payer Medicare For All? They would stand to profit enormously from such a turn of events. Something does not add up.
Right on. Open up Medicare to all U.S. residents. Health care is human right.
Another FAILURE delivered by our SELF-SERVING MEMBERS OF CONGRESS!
If we would stop spending so much on military matters we could have universal health care. What's the point in all that money going for anti-terror military measures if when we are sick we are left to suffer the terror of pain, suffering and in serious cases, death. Also this policy of drug companies selling drugs out of the country for cheap then prohibiting the import of those same drugs from countries like Canada is insane.
Obamacare will deliver less health care than we have now at higher cost. Single-payer would deliver more care at less cost.
With single payer the Gov. would still have money for occupations and wars.
*** Comment deleted by site administrators for being off-topic. ***
see: http://www.commondreams.org/comment-policy
Ever expanding and eternal occupation and war equals a growing and eternal revenue stream for the military industrial media complex.
"The business of America is business" - President Calvin Coolidge
These drones need a good self destruct virus.
Do you mean the drones over Pakistan (and apparently now Venezuela) or the drones in the house and senate?
SEcrecy, secrecy, secrecy----and these jerks have the audacity to say we are living under a "democracy"?
What a load of crap....Cheney and the GOP did this stuff with the energy bill and now the Democrats have the hubris to play with people's lives in secrecy....
The Obama administration's actions and the Congressional Democrats complicity speaks only of a government acting as a tyrannical body of people against all American citizens.
I abhor this secret government. Even the monarchs of the old were less brazen than these scoundrels we have in Washington, D.C.
Every last one of them is a criminal, including Obama himself!!!!
*** Comment deleted by site administrators for using all capital letters. ***
see: http://www.commondreams.org/comment-policy
Could someone at Common Dreams please explain to your readers why this fluff piece is your HEADLINE today?
It is nothing more than spin. If I wanted to read this crap I'd head over to the Washington Post or New York Times site.
Indeed, "It is nothing more than spin."
They lost me in the first line, "sweeping U.S. healthcare overhaul". What it was supposed to be is mere 'medical insurance reform', and it isn't even that.
I'm wondering too why Donna Smith is the author. Is this like Conyers' fall from grace? Like Wendell Potter's return to insurance policy sales?
They are rushing this bill to avoid the growing public opposition, the taxes for it start now, the "care" starts in 3 or 4 years.
About a third of the companies on the Dow Jones are health insurance, big pharma or health industry.
Universal Single Payer = crash of the DJIA.
Single payer won't happen unless you South-of-49ers start camping out on the Washington Mall in your millions. 3 million would probably do the trick.
Read the posts below by glenn ford and Z-Man and you know all you need to know about this.
The usual suspects in the house will vote against it and say sorry;bullshit and the senate where bernie and his 10 billion payoff and feingold and any other senate asshole who votes for this piece of shit will start making excuses.The dims I would expect to capitulate but bernie is a real disappointment and yes it does come down to what have you done for the people lately because this is big!!!Tony
If we want what is good for humanity, including ending the wars and occupations, and the "powers that be"(and their minions) require our fighting with them to the death to bring about the peace that we seek, how are we to accomplish that? War is not peace, and will never lead to peace, except the peace of the cemetary. If we can find the path to ending the wars, we can have any kind of health care that we want!
Old Headline: "Democrats in Final Push on US Healthcare Overhaul"
New Headline: "Democrats in Final Push to increase US Healthcare Industry profits/campaign contributions."
The Health Insurance Bailout Bill?
The banks had a 'bailout' - insurance will have a 'sell out'
"Healthcare reform is Obama's top legislative priority. Republicans solidly oppose it and have threatened new procedural roadblocks in the Senate to slow things down."
Republicans would oppose any bill sponsored by democrats simply to be obstructionist and obstinate. Democrats want the bill passed so they can crow about their "landmark" reform. And, it is health care INSURANCE reform, not health care reform. The only thing that will be "reformed" is that the insurance companies are about to receive a windfall from the taxpayers at least as large as that given to the bankers. Republicans and Democrats are equall evil. This is a bad bill and needs to be voted down. Forcing people to purchase an overpriced useless insurance policy is fascism, pure and simple. And it is a slippery slope. What shall we be legally required to purchase next in order to avoid a penalty imposed by the thieves at the IRS? A new car from the "big three" every five years? Why not?
The bills amount to extortion, to a form of "legalized" robbery.
Yes, the Corporate/Bankster Mafia is fully in control. It is extortion backed up by physical coercion. Just like the old-school Mafia.
"Yes, the Corporate/Bankster Mafia is fully in control."
You can summarize all that in one more politically correct word: corpoterrorists.
Every time I see an image of a Senator (or Clinton, Obama, Emmanuel, Geithner, Bernanke, Gates et al.) I feel sick to my stomach. I need to carry a barf bag with me at all times.
It so odd . Now I am Canadian and never read the caption so did not put a NAME to the faces right off but like some Pavlovian dog salivating when the dinner bell rang, I got that sick to my stomach feeling when I looked at these guys.
Now whats worse is that the number of Politicians who do not give me that feeling can be counted on one or two hands.
They ought to do one of those tests where they have millions of faces of "unamed" people wherein you had to check off "Trustworthy" or "Untrustworthy" in some box underneath the picture. I got a feeling the Politicans will all fall in the "Untrustworthy" camp :)
I am reminded of those "most wanted" pictures carried in local newspaper each week. Under the picture of the thug are the crimes and they tend to be rape, assault and battery murder and the like. I commented once to a friend that they all LOOKED like thugs.
I am going to make a stereotype!
Politicians all LOOK like crooks. Maybe it just a Chicken and egg thing and at some point in time I did see these "faces" attached to a "name" and the "Profession" of "Politician" but I might have to rethink that old saying "You can not judge a book by its cover"
Harry Reid looks like such a harmless little shit, doesn't he.
they look like a drawing from a hunter s. thompson novel. who else could look
so outlandish and ghoulish at the same time? too bad they aren't as they could simply be
thrown out reality doesn't allow that freedom!
Ditto, and see the glazed eyes and barred teeth, Max Baucus looks insane.
They look every bit as evil as Hitler's men. Almost every politico's death is a cause for celeration.
Pass H.R. 676.
Get out of Aghanistan now, and use those billions per month for healthcare for all Americans.
Open up Medicare. Health care is a human right in a democratic society.
I am amazed that the common dreams is even printing this democratic party propaganda. Red flags should go up whenever anyone talks about either the senate or house bills as "health care reform." It has nothing to do with making health care affordable and there is no reform here. It is merely a slick way for insurance companies to receive oodles of taxpayer money.
Single payer is the only way to go--and the incremental approach is to expand Medicaid eligibility to the unemployed and families earning less than a living wage and expand Medicare to those aged 50 and older regardless of income.
It is also important to remember that while the conference committee may work out a deal, the final bill has to be passed by both the House and the Senate before going to the President. Those are the rules--or at least, that was the way our political system used to work.
It could be that the reporters do not understand the rules and the political folks are hoping that no one will pay attention given all the hype about the power of the conference committee.
Without Universal Health Care the US economy will be at a distinct disadvantage to other economies. Higher health costs, unhealthier workforce and the psychological effect of a nation that puts money first over the health of it's citizens. These effects are now becoming evident, and they will be more so as the population grows and ages.
Healthcare overhaul or healthcare sell out?