House passes Obama's health care bill
Photo credit: AP | President Barack Obama waves as he walks out of the Cannon Caucus Room with Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., left, after meeting with House Democrats about health care on Capitol Hill. (Nov. 7, 2009)
On Health Care, Obama Says 'Time to Finish Job'
House Passes Health Care Bill
Raw Video: Obama Makes Capitol Hill Rounds
President Barack Obama's fall health care speech
The Democratic-controlled House passed historic health care legislation to provide medical coverage to millions more Americans late Saturday night, spurred by a summons from President Barack Obama to “answer the call of history” and expand coverage to millions who lack it.
After months of struggle, capped by a final clash over abortion, the final vote was 220 to 215, with one Republican -- Rep. Joseph Cao, a first-term Republican who holds an overwhelmingly Democratic seat in New Orleans -- voting yes and 39 Democrats voting no.
All four Long Island congressional Democrats voted in favor of the legislation, while lone Republican Peter King (R-Seaford) voted against it.
>>Read how the health care debate affects Long Islanders
Obama, who went to Capitol Hill earlier on Saturday to lobby wavering Democrats, said in a statement after the vote, "I look forward to signing it into law by the end of the year."
From the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada issued a statement saying, “We realize the strong will for reform that exists, and we are energized that we stand closer than ever to reforming our broken health insurance system.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi predicted, “we will pass health care reform,” and likened the events to the creation of Social Security in 1935 and Medicare 30 years later.
United in opposition, minority Republicans cataloged their objections across hours of debate on the 1,990-page, $1.2-trillion legislation.
“We are going to have a complete government takeover of our health care system faster than you can say, ‘This is making me sick,’ ” jabbed Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.), adding that Democrats were intent on passing “a jobs-killing, tax-hiking, deficit-exploding” bill.
But with little or no doubt about the outcome, the rhetoric lacked the fire of last summer’s town hall meetings, when some critics accused Democrats of plotting “death panels” to hasten the demise of senior citizens.
In the run-up to a final vote, conservatives from the two political parties joined forces to impose tough new restrictions on abortion coverage in insurance policies to be sold to many individuals and small groups. They prevailed on a roll call of 240-194. Ironically, that only solidified support for the legislation, clearing the way for conservative Democrats to vote for it.
As drafted, the measure denied the use of federal subsidies to purchase abortion coverage in policies sold by private insurers in the new insurance exchange, except in cases of incest, rape or when the life of the mother was in danger.
Passage would clear the way for a Senate debate expected to begin in several days. Democratic leaders have been working on a self-imposed deadline for passing a final compromise, but Reid signaled recently that may slip.
The House legislation would require most Americans to carry 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.
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 a further slap, the industry would lose its exemption from federal antitrust restrictions on price gouging, bid rigging and market allocation.
At its core, the measure would create a federally regulated marketplace where consumers could shop for coverage. In the bill’s most controversial provision, the government would sell insurance, although the Congressional Budget Office forecasts that premiums for it would be more expensive than for policies sold by private firms.
The bill is projected to expand coverage to 36 million uninsured, resulting in 96 percent of the nation’s eligible population having insurance.
To pay for the expansion of coverage, the bill cuts Medicare’s projected spending by more than $400 billion over a decade. It also imposes a tax surcharge of 5.4 percent on income over $500,000 for individuals and $1 million for families.
The bill was estimated to reduce federal deficits by about $104 billion over a decade, although it lacked two of the key cost-cutting provisions under consideration in the Senate, and its longer-term impact on government red ink was far from clear.
Democrats lined up a range of outside groups behind their legislation, none more important than the AARP, whose support promises political cover against the cuts to Medicare in next year’s congressional elections.
The nation’s drug companies generally support health care overhaul. And while the powerful insurance industry opposed the legislation, it did so quietly, and the result was that Republicans could not count on the type of advertising campaign that might have peeled away skittish Democrats in swing districts.
Over all, the bill envisioned the most sweeping set of changes to the health care system in more than a generation, and Democrats said it marked the culmination of a campaign that Harry Truman began when he sat in the White House 60 years ago.
Debate on the House floor had already begun when Obama strode into a closed-door meeting of the Democratic rank and file across the street from the Capitol to make a final personal appeal to them to pass his top domestic priority. While the session was private, he later said he had told them, “that opportunities like this come around maybe once in a generation.. . . I urge members of Congress to rise to this moment. Answer the call of history, and vote yes for health insurance reform for America,” he said.
>>Read how the health care debate affects Long Islanders
10 changes that will result if the House bill becomes law:
1. Creates a government run plan, or "public option," to offer insurance coverage that would compete with private sector.
2. Sets up health insurance "exchanges," or marketplaces, where consumers can easily compare coverage and rates.
3. Requires nearly everyone to obtain coverage starting in 2013.
4. Requires health plans to allow children to remain on their parents' policies until their 27th birthday.
5. Provides federal financial help for lower- and middle-income consumers to obtain coverage.
6. Bars insurers from from denying or limiting coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
7. Bars insurers from imposing lifetime limits on coverage.
8. Expands Medicaid coverage.
9. Imposes a 5.4 percent surcharge on adjusted gross incomes of more than $500,000 for individuals and $1 million for joint filers.
10. Imposes penalties on people and businesses who fail to comply with the new law. --Source: MCT
