Posts Tagged ‘Republicans’
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
President Barack Obama used his first State of the Union Address to tell members of the House and Senate to continue their efforts to enact healthcare reform. “As temperatures cool, I want everyone to take another look at the plan we’ve proposed,” the president said. “Not now. Not when we are so close. By the time I’m finished speaking tonight, more Americans will have lost their health insurance. I will not walk away from these Americans and neither should the people in this chamber.” The president’s comments won applause and ovations from both sides of the aisle.
Richard Umbdenstock, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association said “I think it’s the right approach.” Umbdenstock, who worked closely with the Obama administration to shape elements of healthcare reform legislation, said it was “important work” and “there is a real need to continue.” He also linked healthcare reform to the crucial issue of job creation, noting that “Hospitals are the second largest source of private sector jobs.”
Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) said “I think the House should just pass the Senate bill,” although he agreed that there likely will be efforts to amend the legislation through a procedure that allows passage on a simple majority vote. “But clearly the House can pass the Senate bill and the Senate’s bill is a good bill.”
“We all know we’ve been trying to get healthcare done since Teddy Roosevelt,” Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) commented on Wednesday. “So a few more weeks isn’t a long period of time in the context of how tough a fight this is when you go up against the special interest. We’ll do it and we’ll do it the right way.”
Tags: American Hospital Association, Chris Van Hollen, Democrats, healthcare reform, House of Representatives, President Barack Obama, Republicans, Richard Umbdenstock, Senate, Senator Barbara Boxer, Senator Bill Nelson, Senator Max Baucus, State of the Union Address, Teddy Roosevelt
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Monday, February 1st, 2010
Some Democrats think legislating in baby steps to achieve healthcare reform is their best option now that the party has lost its 60-vote super majority with Scott Brown’s upset victory in Massachusetts to fill Senator Ted Kennedy’s seat.
According to Representative Bill Pascrell, Jr., (D-NJ), some House Democrats are proposing an incremental approach to fix the healthcare system via multiple pieces of legislation instead of a single all-encompassing bill. The goal would remain to reform insurance coverage, assure patients’ rights and improve the way that healthcare is delivered. Pascrell envisions introducing three or four bills in quick succession. The legislation would encompass the least controversial elements of the broader reform package now stalled in Congress.
Pascrell believes that his measures might garner some Republican support because they would eliminate the public option, individual insurance mandates and entitlement programs. Pascrell notes that “You can blame the Senate all you want, but we are our own worst enemy. We do everything in mega-fashion. We need to do it in mini-fashion.”
Tags: 60 vote super majority, Bill Pascrell Jr, Democrats, entitlement programs, filibuster, healthcare reform, House of Representatives, individual insurance mandates, public option, Republicans, Scott Brown, Ted Kennedy
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Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
In a rare Saturday evening roll call, the Senate recently voted 60 - 39 along straight party lines to open debate on wide-ranging healthcare reform legislation. The procedural vote - in which Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) won backing from his entire 60-member caucus - moves the healthcare reform debate from committee into the full Senate. Even with an important victory under his belt, Reid still faces a fight from conservative Blue Dog Democrats - not to mention Republicans.
Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) told ABC’s “This Week” that he voted to cut off a Republican filibuster because it opens the way to revising the legislation as it currently is written. “If I thought the bill couldn’t be amended and couldn’t be improved, I wouldn’t vote to move it forward and move the debate,” Nelson said. “Debate can begin. We ought not to stop the opportunity to improve the bill.”
Conversely, Senator Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) told “Meet the Press” that Saturday’s vote was a victory for President Barack Obama and Senator Reid. “We have a lot of different opinions on our side of the caucus and we came together last night.” New York Democrat Charles Schumer agreed, saying the bill can win the necessary supermajority to fend off a filibuster because the Senate’s public opinion is adequately centrist. “There is no intent to compete unfairly with private insurance. This is a modest public option,” he said, noting that it has the same requirements as private insurance coverage.
Conservative Republicans, on the other hand, want to write entirely new legislation with significant GOP input. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) said the current bill will be an expensive “disaster for our country” that would increase the deficit and force some Americans to lose healthcare coverage.
Whatever shape the ultimate Senate legislation takes, it will have to undergo reconciliation with the more liberal House of Representatives’ bill passed in early November. Although Saturday’s procedural motion required a 60-vote majority, passage of the final healthcare reform bill will require just 51 votes.
Tags: Democrats, filibuster, GOP, healthcare reform, House of Repres, President Barack Obama, Republicans, Senate, Senator Charles Schumer, Senator Dick Durbin, Senator Harry Reid, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
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Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
Democrats in the House and Senate are trying to strip the insurance industry of its decades-old exemption from federal antitrust laws, in the fight to overhaul the way healthcare is delivered in the United States. If the legislation is passed, it will end the “price-fixing, bid-rigging and market allocation in the health and medical malpractice” insurance areas, according to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Leahy’s statement coincided with the House Judiciary Committee’s 20 - 9 vote to end the industry exemption.
Health insurers are fighting back, with Karen Ignagni, president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) claiming that “We believe that health insurers have not been engaging in anti-competitive conduct and that McCarran - Ferguson does not provide a shield for such conduct” in a letter to Representative John Conyers (D-MI), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee. The McCarran - Ferguson Act of 1945 gives states the ability to regulate the insurance industry for antitrust matters. As a result, insurance companies currently are exempt from federal jurisdiction.
The moves to revoke healthcare insurers’ long-term immunity from antitrust laws reflect the Democrats’ anger in response to the industry’s attempts to shape reform legislation. The action came shortly after AHIP issued a report asserting that a measure in the Senate Finance Committee would result in significantly higher premiums for people who current have healthcare insurance. Democrats and President Obama attacked the study as flawed and motivated by politics. According to the president, insurers are earning “profits and bonuses while enjoying a privileged exemption from our antitrust laws, a matter that Congress is rightfully reviewing.”
Tags: America's Health Insurance Plans, Democrat, health malpractice, healthcare insurance, House of Representatives, medical malpractice, Medicare, President Barack Obama, Republicans, Senate
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Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
Senator Max Baucus’ (D-MT) long-awaited centrist healthcare reform bill was met with strong objections by both liberal Democrats (who decried the lack of a public option) and Republicans (who oppose any expanded government role in healthcare).
Still, the Baucus proposal could serve as a blueprint for the ultimate compromise healthcare legislation that President Obama calls the “defining struggle of this generation” when it finally emerges from Congress. Baucus’ proposal would expand consumer protections and require that all Americans have medical insurance with the government providing financial help to pay premiums for low- and middle-income people. Insurers would no longer be able to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions or cancel policies after people get sick. The Baucus bill would create private healthcare insurance cooperatives, which centrist Democrats prefer in place of the public option supported by liberals.
Despite tailoring his proposal to cost less and limit government involvement in healthcare,Baucus’ proposal is unlikely to win much support from Republican Senators. According to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), “Americans don’t think a bigger role for government in healthcare would improve the system. Yet despite this, every proposal we’ve seen would lead to a vast expansion of the government’s role in the healthcare system.”
The Baucus bill is unpopular with liberal Democrats who insist that a public option be included in any healthcare reform legislation. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House bill, drafted by Democrats, was superior and “clearly does more to make coverage affordable for more Americans.” The Congressional Budget Office said the expansion of coverage would cost $774 billion over 10 years, compared with price tags of more than $1 trillion for the other measures.
Tags: affordable healthcare, Democrats, health insurance, healthcare reform, Max Baucus, Nancy Pelosi, President Obam, private healthcare, public option, Republicans
Posted in Economics, Healthcare | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
The Republican National Committee’s (RNC) response to the Obama Administration’s and Congressional Democrats’ efforts to pass healthcare reform legislation was to sponsor a “Hillarycare revisited” fund raising effort.
The RNC warned against “Obamacare” and pointed out that the government “already run
s car companies, banks and mortgage companies. Republicans believe that the last thing the American people want is government telling them when and where - or even whether - they can get medical treatment for their families.” “Hillarycare” refers to former President Bill Clinton’s failed attempt at reforming healthcare during the 1990s, an effort led by his wife, Hillary Clinton.
Republicans like John Boehner (R-OH) have raised the specter of a “bureaucrat standing between you and your doctor.” Perhaps it’s worth considering that we currently have an insurance company bureaucrat performing the same role. Also, government administered health options are almost uniformly popular. The World Health Organization ranks France’s healthcare system as the world’s finest, contrasted to the United States, which scored 37th. The United Kingdom’s combination of publicly and privately funded healthcare ranked 18th in the World Health Organization’s survey.
Tags: American, banks, bureaucrat, car companies, Congressional Democrats, doctor, France, government, government administered health, Healthcare, healthcare reform, healthcare system, Hillary Clinton, Hillarycare, insurance company bureaucrat, John Boehner, legislation, mortgage companies, Obama administration, Obamacare, President Bill Clinton, R-OH, Republican National Committee, Republicans, RNC, United Kingdom, United States, WHO, World Health Organization
Posted in Economics, Healthcare, Hospital Systems | No Comments »
Thursday, June 18th, 2009
Congress is drafting historic legislation intended to restructure the American healthcare system. At a time when healthcare costs total $2.4 trillion annually (an average of $7,868 per person), are projected to rise to $4 trillion by 2016 and 46 million Americans lack any insurance coverage, the legislation is badly needed. According to a draft outline, the legislation might call for mandatory insurance requirements, which could conceivably be sold either through a national or state-based exchange. The bill is also likely to include a government-backed plan to control 
costs.
The Joint Committee on Taxation opined that the size of the savings might fall under several taxation arrangements, which could be essential in determining how to pay for the reform bill. The legislation includes an opportunity to drop the Sustainable Growth Rate formula, which is perceived by many as fatally flawed.
The legislation also will bring provider payments into line with recommendations from the Medicare Advisory Payment Commission, and allow payment alternatives for healthcare systems that offer coordinated care and focus on preventative health. Medicaid would be expanded, with subsidies available to pay for coverage.
A quick analysis concludes that the House draft will cost more than legislation currently under consideration in the Senate. So far, neither Democrats nor Republicans have been able to decide how to pay for the bill, which could total more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years.
Tags: American, Congress, cost control, Democrats, government-backed plan, Healthcare, healthcare costs, healthcare system, historic legislation, insurance coverage, insurance requirements, Joint Committee on Taxation, Medicaid, Medicare Advisory Payment Commission, national, reform bill, Republicans, state-based exchange, Sustainable Growth Rate formula, taxation
Posted in Economics, Healthcare | No Comments »
