ACTION ALERT: Pass the Senate Health Care Bill
Where to begin… On Tuesday, the special election to fill Senator Ted Kennedy’s seat in Massachusetts resulted in a victory for Republican Scott Brown. This means that the Democrats will no longer have a 60-seat filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Which means that the path health care reform was taking – House-Senate negotiations on a “merged” bill and subsequent votes in the House and the Senate – has been, quite frankly, derailed. A few options remain:
(1) The House could pass the Senate bill as is and send that bill to the President. Pros: many major reforms would be enacted; 31 million uninsured would get health insurance. Cons: many of the provisions in the Senate bill are weaker, most notably the Medicaid expansion and subsidies to low-income individuals (there is a possibility these could be fixed in a budget “reconciliation” process).
(2) Congress could essentially start over with a new bill that would contain only those portions of the legislation that have broad bipartisan support (e.g., some of the insurance reforms). Pros: I can’t think of any. Cons: Many of the provisions are interconnected and depend on each other for success. For instance, insurance companies agreed to the lifting of preexisting condition exclusions because of the individual mandate. The individual mandate will only work if there are subsidies to make insurance affordable. Subsidies will only be sustainable if there are cost-containment provisions and so on. In addition, this approach would provide no subsidies to help low-income folks buy insurance.
(3) Congress could do nothing and 31 million Americans could continue to live without health insurance.
Mike Lux had a good article in the Huffington Post yesterday explaining why option one is the only real path forward:
Democrats have an absolutely clear path to passing a strong health care reform bill quickly… What they have to do is buck up their courage, stop acting out, and get the deal done.
The MCC Washington Office supports option one and we are encouraging our supporters to urge their Representatives to pass the Senate health care bill. Click on the link below to take action today.
ACTION ALERT: Pass the Senate Health Care Bill
For additional resources on health care reform, visit the Abundant Life health care page.
