The U.S. House, with support from local lawmakers and health
care workers, voted Saturday to remake the nation’s health
insurance system and take a major step toward universal
coverage.
Chris Casteel – The Oklahoman
Oklahoma City
The U.S. House, with support from local lawmakers and health care workers, voted Saturday to remake the nation’s health insurance system and take a major step toward universal coverage.
Meeting in a rare weekend session that lasted more than 14 hours, the House approved a Democratic bill 220 to 215 that includes new mandates for benefits and a government-run plan for those who can’t afford private insurance.
Democratic leaders, who worked for weeks to round up enough votes, got help Saturday from President Barack Obama – who went to Capitol Hill to give a pep talk – and from a compromise with anti-abortion Democrats who wanted the bill to contain explicit prohibitions on government money being used to pay for abortions.
Only one of the 177 Republicans in the House voted for the bill – Rep. Joseph Cao, of Louisiana – while 39 Democrats opposed it. All three of South County’s representatives voted for the bill, and both of California’s senators have expressed support for a senate version of the health bill.
“For 70 years Americans have been waiting for this moment,” Rep. Mike Honda (D-Campbell) said in a press release. “If the best of our reforms prevail, insurance companies will no longer be able to subject people to complex, confusing policy details, lifetime and annual limits, or denials based on pre-existing conditions.”
The bill will improve employer based coverage for 500,000 residents, allow 16,700 small businesses to obtain affordable health care coverage and provide coverage for 28,000 uninsured residents in Honda’s district, which runs from Gilroy to Milpitas and includes Morgan Hill, Honda said.
“Americans live in the wealthiest, most powerful nation in the world and spend $2 trillion a year on health care … and yet we don’t have the best health care in the world,” Honda said. “Thousands suffer and many die because of a lack of access to health care. Passing this bill and preserving its structure is a critical investment in the health of future generations.”
“Personally, I think this is good,” said Dr. K.K. Bhatia, a Gilroy pediatrician whose policy is to treat every child who walks through her doors, insured or not. “Having insurance means they’ll have better care and won’t have to wait as long.”
Uninsured families are reactive rather than proactive in terms of their health care, Bhatia said. Instead of coming in for regular, preventative checkups, they only stop by after their child has fallen sick, she said. Bhatia’s office typically eats about 75 percent of the costs for an uninsured patient.
The health care bill is “good for them, good for me,” she said.
Hours before the vote, Obama met behind closed doors with Democratic lawmakers and urged them to make history.
“Most public servants pass through their entire careers without a chance to make as important a difference in the lives of their constituents and the life of this country,” Obama said at the White House after that meeting. “I urge members of Congress to rise to this moment.”
Though passage of the ambitious legislation marked a major milestone in the decades-long effort to achieve universal health care coverage, the bill is a long way from becoming law. Attention now shifts to the Senate, where prospects for a government-run health care plan, commonly referred to as a public option, are thought to be dim. The Senate could be weeks away from taking up its version of health care reform.
The House bill would expand greatly the number of Americans with health care coverage through a combination of mandates on businesses and individuals and through expansion of Medicaid, the federal-state health program for the nation’s poor.
Under the bill, businesses with annual payrolls exceeding $500,000 would have to provide coverage to their employees or pay a tax. That tax would reach 8 percent of payroll for businesses with annual payrolls greater than $750,000. Individuals also would have to buy insurance or pay a penalty.
Medicaid coverage would be extended to all those with incomes 150 percent above the poverty level (currently about $33,000 per year for a family of four) and the federal government would pick up most of the additional costs.
An official congressional estimate says 96 percent of people in the country ultimately would have coverage because of the House bill. The U.S. Census Bureau reported in September that more than 46 million people lack health insurance, but that figure may be low since it came from a survey taken before joblessness skyrocketed to its current rate of 10.2 percent.
New taxes on businesses and the wealthy would pay for some of the bill’s $1.2 trillion cost over 10 years. The bill also calls for cutting federal subsidies to Medicare Advantage programs and trimming other payments in that entitlement program.
Democrats said the bill would create a system in which insurance would be more “portable” and in which no one could be denied coverage for having a pre-existing condition. Private insurers no longer could place lifetime caps on benefits, and annual out-of-pocket expenses would be limited.
Democratic leaders agreed Friday night to allow a vote on stringent prohibitions against abortion services when any kind of federal subsidies are involved. The House approved the anti-abortion amendment 240-194, despite objections from several Democratic women lawmakers who said it was unnecessary.
Reporter Sara Suddes contributed to this article.
