Senate Health Care Nears Debate
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Wednesday presented the Senate’s health care bill that would expand health insurance coverage to 30 million more Americans at an estimated cost of $849 billion over 10 years, according to CNN.
The bill, drafted from two separate bills approved by Senate committees now goes to the full Senate, where Republicans have vowed to try to block it.
“From day one, our goal has been to enact legislation that offers stability and security to those who have insurance and affordable coverage to those who don’t, and that lowers costs for families, businesses and governments across the country,” President Obama said in a statement, adding that the Senate proposal “meets those principles.”
Although it is a 2,074-page document, the essentials of the Senate’s health care bill can be reduced to the following key components:
• Includes a government-run public health insurance option.
• Prohibits illegal immigrants from participating in a health insurance exchange created for those unable to afford health coverage.
• Prohibits the use of federal funds for abortion coverage in the exchange.
• Increases Medicare payroll tax on individuals earning $200,000 a year and couples earning $250,000 a year.
• Includes 5% tax on elective cosmetic surgery
• Requires individuals to buy health insurance, with a fine for noncompliance.
• Parents responsible for providing insurance for all children under age 18.
• Does not mandate that all employers offer health care.
• Businesses with more than 50 workers, where at least one employee qualifies for government subsidies, would face a penalty of $750 for every full-time employee if it does not offer health care coverage.
• Prevents insurance companies from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions.
• Expands government-run Medicaid coverage for the poor to everyone making less than 133 percent of the national poverty level.
An early passage is not going to happen as Sen. Reid needs all 58 Democrats plus the two Independent Senators to avoid a Republican-led filibuster. Plus there are at least three Democrats who have expressed concerns about the cost and scope of health care reform proposals.
Even if a filibuster is avoided, the bill’s debate is expected to last weeks, which probably dooms the goal of Senate Democratic leaders to pass the bill by year’s end.
Then, when and if the senate does pass its version of a health care bill, a congressional conference committee would need to merge the House and Senate proposals into a consensus version requiring final approval from each chamber before moving to Obama’s desk to be signed into law.
