US Senate Committee passes health bill to full Senate

[Charles RB]

That took a while... Doesn't include a public option though. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8304375.stm)

A Senate committee has approved a bill to reform US healthcare, a key step in President Barack Obama's attempt to overhaul the system.

Senators voted by 14 votes to nine to pass the bill, with one Republican joining Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee in voting in favour.

Senator Olympia Snowe became the first Republican to back the proposals.

The reforms, intended to cut costs and make insurance more affordable, are Mr Obama's top domestic priority.

The president welcomed the committee's decision, calling it a "critical milestone".

"We are closer than ever before to passing healthcare reform but we are not there yet," he said. "Now is not the time to pat ourselves on the back... It is time to dig in further and get this done."

The president knows the process still has some way to run, says the BBC's Paul Adams in Washington.

But the Senate committee approval was a significant boost for the central plank of his domestic agenda.

Announcing her decision to break with her party on Tuesday, Senator Snowe said: "When history calls, history calls."

However, the moderate Republican said it did not necessarily mean she would support later versions of a bill.

"There are many, many miles to go in this legislative journey," she said. "My vote today is my vote today. It doesn't forecast what it will be tomorrow."

The panel's bill, which was drafted after weeks of at times bitterly bipartisan debate, sets out a 10-year $829bn (£525bn) plan to cut health costs and provide affordable health insurance to most Americans.

The finance committee's bill must now be combined with a bill drafted by the Senate Health Committee before going to the full Senate for a vote.

It is not guaranteed to pass, as it needs all the Democrats, two independents and one Republican to vote in favour.

A long congressional slog still lies ahead, correspondents say, but Mr Obama's push for healthcare reform has gone further than attempts in the 1990s by President Bill Clinton, which never got beyond all the committees.

The important bits in it:

•mandate all Americans to get insurance
•offer subsidies to the less well-off and set up health insurance exchanges for people without employer-sponsored coverage, to help them choose between different options.

The mandate bit is... worrying.

Also, have a comparison between US, UK, France, and Singapore on health care! (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8201711.stm)

[bringthenoise]

The mandate bit is... worrying.

Indeed. Unless there's also a mandate to take people who would currently be denied, then it's fairly rubbish.

[Matt Algren]

Could the mod gods fix the title? The Senate didn't pass it, a Senate committee did. This is one of three or four versions of a health care bill currently making their way through. At some point they'll be reconciled into one.

If this version of the bill makes it to the Senate floor without some form of a public option but with a mandate, I will eat my hat.

[Gnarl]

It looks like they are trying to push the US in the direction of Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany, where UHC is funded in mandatory insurance. Germany in particular have been pointed out by Health Care Economists as the easiest UHC system for the USA to transfer to.

But if the insurance companies are howling now, wait till they try to pass the fairly essential "no profits on health insurance" laws. Or maybe they are figuring they can pass the rest, and accept something of an efficiency loss so the insurance companies can still make a profit?

[Mister Blisterfists]

oh, so no public option, but I'm FORCED to get it anyway.

this is bullshit.

the reason I don't have Health Insurance is because I cannot fucking AFFORD Health Insurance. Not because I don't want it.

mandating that I get it only means that I will be breaking the law when I can't buy it, or I go even FURTHER into fucking debt.

[KevinTBrown]

Right now, they're trying to merge 2 very different bills.

The Finance Committee bill that was approved Tuesday has no government-sponsored insurance plan and no requirement on employers that they must offer coverage. It relies instead on a requirement that all Americans obtain insurance.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee bill, passed earlier by a panel in which liberals predominate, calls for both a government plan to compete with private insurers and a mandate that employers help cover their workers. Those are only two of dozens of differences.

From here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091014/ap_on_go_co/us_health_care_overhaul



I think in the end, there will be a public plan of some sort.

[king mob]

Indeed. Unless there's also a mandate to take people who would currently be denied, then it's fairly rubbish.

It looks like a cop out as the US needs a public option, however this looks like the start of a longer route to get a bill passed. What a bloody mess though, America shouldn't be fucking struggling to ensure all it's people have some type of healthcare.

[7thangel]

actually, there are three bills that might be merged, help, maxtax, and tri-care

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/10/13/senate-finance-passes-health-bill-14-9-with-snowe-vote/

HELP Bill (About $1 trillion/10 years)

Individual Mandate Yes

Employer Mandate Yes (Large employers would pay $750 per full-time employee, $375 for each part-time employee or provide adequate coverage.)

Medicaid Expansion 150% FPL, but still unclear

Subsidies between 150 – 400% FPL on sliding scale

Public Option Yes (Will have to compete on a level playing field with private providers and offer competitive rates and premiums. )

Insurance Regs Guarantee issue, modified community rating (2:1), no rescissions

Senate Finance Draft ($829 billion/10 years

Individual Mandate Yes

Employer Mandate No, but employers with workers at or below 300% FPL have to pay

Medicaid Expansion 133% FPL

Subsidies between 133 – 300% FPL on sliding scale; flat rate for 300%-400%

Public Option No (Conrad’s co-op compromise (http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/06/10/conrad-coop/))

Insurance Regs Guarantee issue, modified community rating (6:1), no rescissions

Tri House Bill($1.04 trillion/10 years)

Individual Mandate Yes

Employer Mandate Yes

Medicaid Expansion 133% FPL

Subsidies between 133 – 400% FPL on sliding scale

Public Option Yes, Medicare + 5%

Insurance Regs Guarantee issue, modified community rating (2:1), no rescissions


it's going to be a long process. with snowe voting yes she's now a power player for the bill, but it's up to reid to make sure that the public option is there, even without her support or asshat leiberman.

if people really want it, they have to actively lobby, organize and protest for it. progressives were flat-footed during the august break and haven't matched their passions with actions.

where are the daily, weekly or bi-weekly pro- reform/pro-public option protests? is anybody or organization trying to put together a national protests?

[Dreadstar]

So, how much pork did they get through?

[o1pickleboy]

It is not guaranteed to pass, as it needs all the Democrats, two independents and one Republican to vote in favour.

I thought the dems had 58 seats in the senate? What do they need all of them plus the indies and a Republican for?

Can't the Health care bill pass with 51 votes in favor?(a simple majority)

[CaptainCanada]

I thought the dems had 58 seats in the senate? What do they need all of them plus the indies and a Republican for?

Can't the Health care bill pass with 51 votes in favor?(a simple majority)
60 votes is the requirement for a cloture vote (a vote to end debate and proceed to a simple-majority vote); if 41 senators oppose a bill, they can deny cloture and prevent a vote.