US House Passes Historic Health Care Reform Bill
The US House voted late last night on a landmark package of health care reform that will finally guarantee quality, affordable health care coverage for all Americans. It is immediately being hailed as the biggest legislative acheivement since Civil Rights and Medicare.
CWA President Larry Cohen commended House Democrats for voting for the bill, saying:
We commend Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House leadership for their efforts that made this vote possible, and we commend members of the House of Representatives who stood up to insurance company interests and voted yes, for real reform.
In New Jersey, Congressmen Rothman, Pascrell, Payne, Sires, Pallone, Holt and Andrews all voted for the package, while Congressmen LoBiondo, Adler, Smith, Garrett, Lance and Frelinghuysen voted against.
With passage in the House, President Barack Obama is poised to do what progressive Presidents have tried--and ultimately failed--to do for the past 100 years: Bring about universal health insurance to the United States.
Not only will the bill bring about near-universal health care, it will end the practice of insurance companies denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, require insurance companies to spend more money on delivering health care, and fix the "doughnut hole" in Medicare prescription drug coverage.
Editorial boards across the country immediately proclaimed the bills the most significant legislative acheivement in a generation. Here is a sample:
New York Times: "House Democrats approved a far-reaching overhaul of the nation's health system on Sunday, voting over unanimous Republican opposition to provide medical coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans after an epic political battle that could define the differences between the parties for years."
Washington Post: "House Democrats scored a historic victory in the century-long battle to reform the nation's health-care system late Sunday night, winning final approval of legislation that expands coverage to 32 million people and attempts to contain spiraling costs."
Wall Street Journal: "The biggest transformation of the U.S. health system in decades won approval on Capitol Hill late Sunday, the culmination of efforts by generations of Democrats to achieve near-universal health coverage."
USA Today: "Congress completed action Sunday night on the major portion of President Obama's top priority, a historic restructuring of the nation's health care system that has eluded his predecessors for more than a century."
Los Angeles Times: "Ending the Democrats' decades-long quest to create a healthcare safety net to match Social Security, the House of Representatives on Sunday night approved sweeping legislation to guarantee Americans access to medical care for the first time, delivering President Obama the biggest victory of his young presidency."
The House voted on the Senate version of the bill, passed in December, and then immediately voted on a sidecar of changes to the Senate bill designed to improve it. The Senate will now adopt the changes the House made to the bill sometime in the next week using the budget reconciliation process, which will require only 50 votes in the Senate to pass. Even though the only thing left to vote on in the Senate is improving the bill, Senate Republicans have vowed to continue their obstructionist ways, and will fight progress to the very end.
Pundits across the country are saying the bill cements Barack Obama's place as one of America's finest Presidents, and gives him immense clout going into financial reform, job creation, and the 2010 midterm elections. For a sampling of commentary, see here.
CWA will call on its activists to urge their Senators to vote yes on the improvements to the bill. Stay tuned for activist alerts to call Senators Menendez and Lautenberg.
