Health Care Reform One Step Closer?

(Interview) Political strategist Brad Bannon is president of Bannon Communications Research in Washington DC.

The Senate Finance Committee has approved the $829 billion health care reform bill on a 14-9 vote, with Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe the only Republican who voted “yes.”

The vote moves President Barack Obama’s goal of overhauling the nation’s health care system one step closer to reality.

Obama said at the White House that the health care debate was at a “critical moment” and quickly sought to label the Finance bill a bipartisan effort, even though it received only a single GOP vote.

And he specifically praised Snowe for her “political courage and the seriousness of purpose she’s shown throughout this process.”

“As a result of these efforts, we are now closer than ever before to passing health reform. But we’re not there yet. Now is not the time to pat ourselves on the back,” Obama said. “Now is the time to dig in even harder to get this done.”

The bill would require all Americans to own health insurance or pay a fine of up to $1,500 per family. It doesn’t require employers to offer health coverage – as the House version of the bill does – and would create health-care co-operatives, not the publicly run health insurance option many liberals hoped for.

Now Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will huddle with Finance Chairman Max Baucus and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) of the Senate Health committee to meld the Finance and Health bills. White House aides are expected to be part of those meetings, as President Barack Obama’s team steps up its involvement in the health-care talks.

Then the Senate bill would have to be merged with a House version that includes the public option and a different way to paying for health reform – one of the key differences between the bills. The House would pay for health reform with a so-called millionaires tax on families earning at least $1 million. The Senate would use an excise tax on insurers who offer so-called Cadillac plans of at least $21,000 per family.

Comments

[Tom Degan]

I don't know what kind of health care reform will come out of this session, but I strongly suspect it won't be much. There is, however a silver lining behind this very dark cloud. I am reminded of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Don't be embarrassed if you've never heard of it, there really isn't a hell of a lot to remember about it; a mere pittance, really - a scrap of leftovers tossed out to "American Negros" (in the parlance of the age) in order to appease them. But it made the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - the one we remember - all-the-more easier seven years later.

We'll live to fight another day.

http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY