The Lowdown on Health Care

Written by Tabitha HalecloseAuthor: Tabitha Hale Name: Tabitha Hale
Email: tabitha@tabithahale.com
Site: http://tabithahale.com
About: Tabitha is the new media director at FreedomWorks, a non-profit political advocacy organization based in Washington DC.See Authors Posts (6) on December 10, 2009

So many stories floating around right now about the state of the health care bill. Is it going to pass the Senate? What happens if it passes the Senate? Will they try to reconcile it with the House bill? What are the ramifications if it actually does get through?

As you all know, the House passed their version of this bill last month. Currently, the Senate is in debate over their own version of the bill. The short story is that neither plan offers real solutions that empower you or your doctor. They include common sense solutions like tort reform or allowing consumers to purchase health insurance across state lines.

So where are we right now in the process? Right now, Sen. Harry Reid is pushing hard to get his sixty votes. There are several things that make this look improbable, one of which is Sen. Olympia Snowe’s statement that she is not happy with the expansion of Medicare. Politico reports:

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) said Thursday that she does not support the Medicare buy-in because it would “aggravate an already-serious problem” with the program – the low reimbursement rates for hospitals and doctors.

“I have serious concerns,” Snowe told reporters. “I just think that is the wrong direction to take.”

Snowe said she could not see a way for Senate Democratic leaders to even tweak the proposal to win her vote.

“I can’t see it,” said Snowe, who met Wednesday with President Barack Obama. “I am talking to a lot of my providers this afternoon and I know they are mighty unhappy.”

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska) is also a weak link for Democrats in this debate. His amendment the Senate’s equivalent of the Stupak amendment failed this week, and according to previous statements, it will “make it harder” for him to vote for final passage of this bill.

There are two pending amendments for the bill right now:

• Dorgan #2793. The short story is this: In a backdoor deal with the White House, Pharma agreed to support this health care bill if they kept the drug reimportation out of it.  Sen. John McCain, (R-Arizona) and GOP aides have said there are enough votes to pass the amendment – which is problematic for Democrats in that it violates this agreement. “They’re muscling everyone they can” to get the votes to shoot it down, McCain said. According to Sen. Carper, he has a hold on the amendment which would block it from getting a roll call vote.
• Crapo motion to commit to Finance Committee. This is supposed to ensure that families making under $250k and individuals making under $200k don’t see the effects of a tax increase as a result of this bill.

What Sen. Reid is pushing for right now is to close the debate. He needs 60 votes to end the conversation. The word is that as soon as he has those votes, he will call the vote and get it passed. The fact that this vote has not yet been called bodes well for those opposed to this government intrusion in the health care industry. However, as of right now Reid is expected to file cloture on the Conference Report and hustle another Saturday vote.

So what are the action points? There is buzz that Sen. Reid will not allow the bill to go to conference, which means that they will be sending this to the House for a vote as is. What does that mean? That your Representative will have to vote on the bill that gets passed in the Senate. So don’t let up pressure on your Representatives. Keep their feet to the fire. They still have a say in this, and we can’t let them think that we’ve been caught up in the holidays and forgotten. Stay on top of your Representative AND your Senator. It has never been more critical, and the longer we can make this last the better. Time is on our side.