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Congressional health care vote set for Saturday night
Published November 6, 2009 - BizTimes Daily
A legislative showdown is shaping up for Saturday night in the House of Representatives, where Democrats say they plan to forge ahead with a vote on a massive health care reform bill.
The bill received significant boosts Thursday, when the AARP and the American Medical Association (AMA) announced their support for the plan, a 1,990-page measure that aims to expand health insurance to 36 million Americans.
No Republicans are expected to support the Democratic bill, which includes a public option designed to provide competition for private insurers.
Republicans finally put forth their own plan this week. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said the GOP proposal would reduce the rolls of the uninsured in America by about 3 million in 2019, but would leave 52 million people without medical coverage.
Democrats need 218 votes to pass their plan, which is supported by President Barack Obama.
"We are closer to passing this reform than ever before," Obama told reporters Thursday. "Now that the doctors and medical professionals of America are standing with us, now that the organizations charged with looking out for the interests of seniors are standing with us, we are even closer."
U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Janesville) this week called the Democratic plan a "costly behemoth" that would launch a government takeover of health care.
"The 1,990-page Democratic health care bill, expected to reach the House floor this week, suffers all the predictable failings that result from its true intent: to initiate a central government takeover of the health sector - one-sixth of the U.S. economy and one of the most valued and personal services Americans have," Ryan said.
However, AARP chief executive Barry Rand said the House's Democratic health bill meets the group's goals of making coverage affordable for its younger members and protecting Medicare for seniors.
"We've read the Affordable Health Care for America Act, and we can say with confidence that it meets those goals with improved benefits for people in Medicare and needed health-insurance market reforms to help ensure every American can purchase affordable health coverage," Rand said.
The AMA's president, James Rohack, said the bill would expand health insurance coverage and let patients and doctors make medical-care choices.
