US: Senate Passes Health Care Bill

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/25/health/policy/25health.html?_r=1&hp

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted Thursday to reinvent the nation’s health care system, passing a bill to guarantee access to health insurance for tens of millions of Americans and to rein in health costs as proposed by President Obama.

The 60-to-39 party-line vote, on the 25th straight day of debate on the legislation, brings Democrats a step closer to a goal they have pursued for decades. It clears the way for negotiations with the House, which passed a broadly similar bill last month by a vote of 220 to 215.

If the two chambers can strike a deal, as seems likely, the resulting product would vastly expand the role and responsibilities of the federal government. It would, as lawmakers said repeatedly in the debate, touch the lives of nearly all Americans.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34584011/ns/politics-capitol_hill/

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats passed a landmark health care bill early Thursday morning that could define President Barack Obama'slegacy and usher in near-universal medical coverage for the first time in U.S. history.

Ahead lie complex talks with the House to reach final legislation in the new year.

It'll be interesting to see how they reconcile the House & Senate versions.

I can sympathize with those on the left who oppose this bill.  It doesn't include a public option and it forces people to buy private health insurance (rewarding insurance companies [who are supposed to be one of the villains in this debate] with an extra $50 billion a year.).  It maintains the monopoly that drug companies have on prescription drugs by continuing to prevent Americans from buying generic, low cost versions.  And I really don't like how this bill was passed by the Democratic leadership bribing those legislators who decided to hold out just to secure special favors for their states at everyone else s expense.  Just plain sleazy I think.  I really don't see this benefiting Americans at all, unless they have shares in insurance and drug companies.

I can sympathize with those on the left who oppose this bill. 

I agree there are problems with it, but I think the problems outweigh the benefits (more people with insurance and insurance companies not allowed to deny coverage are two big ones).  I've read about provisions for trying out innovative programs locally in small groups to see what works and what doesn't, and I hope that'll lead to better programs nationally.

I really don't see this benefiting Americans at all, unless they have shares in insurance and drug companies.

It'll benefit Americans without health insurance.

The well talked about things like the public option are not in the Senate bill but there are many things the Senate bill does (that are good) that the House bill doesn't so let's see what we end up with.  Regardless, many policies like this end up laying the foundation and then when the voting public realizes the world will not implode, then you can work on adding in the other bits that are need to have good sound policies. 

And I really don't like how this bill was passed by the Democratic leadership bribing those legislators who decided to hold out just to secure special favors for their states at everyone else s expense. 

Unfortunately that seems to be the norm for US politics though.
Perhaps if the right hadn't blocked it at every turn and told lie after blatent lie on TV then a decent bill would have gone through but they've been way to partisan on it because they are in the pockets of the insurance company.
Perhaps though this is something that can be built on in future.

Perhaps if the right hadn't blocked it at every turn and told lie after blatent lie on TV then a decent bill would have gone through but they've been way to partisan on it because they are in the pockets of the insurance company.

I think it's more that the Republicans - with a few honorable exceptions - decided they would do everything possible to obstruct a victory for Obama on a key piece of his agenda. Let's face it, had McCain won the election last year, no progress would have been made in this area, just as no progress - aside from the Medicare drug benefit - was made during the eight years of Bush. In fact, we ended up with significantly more uninsured people at the end of his term than we started with.

This is a move in the right direction, despite the bill's flaws. IMO, anything is better than the status quo. Our insurance company just hiked our rates up and we have GOVERNMENT insurance! A friend now pays more for her family health insurance plan than they pay for their mortgage. That's just wrong.

A friend now pays more for her family health insurance plan than they pay for their mortgage. That's just wrong.

    That is just wrong.

It'll benefit Americans without health insurance.

Will it, though?  Honestly?  I want to believe it will, especially since I'm one of them.  I've been hoping and praying that the Democrats would succeed in passing a reform bill, but after watching as, bit by bit, the most helpful measures have been stripped away, I'm not sure that the bill, as it stands in the Senate version, wouldn't leave me worse off.

I don't have insurance now.  Until I was laid off a year ago, I had amazing coverage, but I couldn't afford $500+ per month for COBRA (and that was for a single person), so it went away.  My new job is a contract position, and although the employment agency does offer insurance, after reviewing the available policies (low coverage, very high deductible, tons of exclusions, and didn't even meet the minimum coverage requirements for the Massachusetts insurance law) I decided that it wasn't worth stretching my already super-tight budget.  And, as I have multiple pre-existing conditions, the cost of private coverage (assuming I could even obtain a policy) would be prohibitive.

Now, I'm going to be required to purchase coverage somewhere.  Will my employer end up offering a plan that provides actual benefits at a reasonable price?  I don't think that's going to be a requirement of the bill.  They're setting up these exchanges, so I could shop for a private plan, and although they won't be able to exclude me based on my medical history, is there anything that stops them charging me the earth?  Not that I've heard.  And as far as the low-income subsidies, how low is low?  As a single adult with no kids, even though I'm very barely making ends meet, my income is high enough to exclude me from things such as housing subsidies, etc.  And if I did qualify for a subsidy, how would it work?  Would they simply pick up a portion of my premium each month, or would I get a tax grant annually?  As anyone who's ever lived on a tight budget will know, getting a $xxx refund at the end of the year really doesn't help if you can't find the money to begin with.

So, although part of me is happy to see Obama and the Democrats finally get something passed, my main fear is that it's all going to end up going horribly wrong for the people who really needed help.  I can understand and appreciate the 'don't let the perfect stand in the way of the good' philosophy, but this seems more like a desperate attempt not to be seen to fail.  And that doesn't usually turn out well. 

I hear what you're saying, but I've lived under the old system without insurance, too, and I didn't like the idea that I was one accident or illness away from financial ruin, so I'm for trying something new.

Without a public option and/or cost controls, this isn't real reform.  Woadgrrl is right.

Thanks Bluedogs and Leiberman!

ETA: And thanks to the Teabaggers and others who made the discussion about this clear as mud by injecting crap like death panels and visions of the US ending up with something like the NHS.

I hear what you're saying, but I've lived under the old system without insurance, too, and I didn't like the idea that I was one accident or illness away from financial ruin, so I'm for trying something new.

That's exactly my point, though.  If the policies that people are forced to buy don't provide adequate coverage- think $5000 deductibles, high co-pays on exams & prescriptions, and $100K lifetime coverage limits- then they're still facing financial ruin.  It might take a little more doing (cancer, rather than appendicitis) but it can still happen.  And for people truly living paycheck-to-paycheck, a $5K bill they can't pay can do as much damage to their financial future as a $50K bill they can't pay.

{shrugs}  Well, I guess we're fcuked no matter what, then.