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House or Senate Health Care Reform? Compare for Yourself |
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Over the coming days—and maybe weeks—U.S. House and Senate leaders, along with the Obama White House, will be working to shape one health care reform bill from the two each chamber passed earlier this year.
Now is a good time to compare the two and we’ve posted a comparison here. After you’ve compared the bills, mark you calendar for Jan. 13 to join in a National Call-In Day to the House to demand health care reform that works for working families. See details below.
The pair has many common elements that will help working families cope with the ever-rising costs of health care and address serious flaws and shortcomings in the nation’s health care system.
Health care reform advocates say that more than three-quarters of the bills’ provisions share such features as consumer protections, more affordable coverage for active workers and retirees and seniors, expanded coverage and cost containment.
But there also are significant differences in the bills. Overall, as we have reported, the House bill comes closer to AFL-CIO’s health care reform goals, including a public health care option, a much stronger employer fair share provision and no tax on workers’ health care benefits. We’ll have more on the tax issue later today.
While the Senate bill has many good points, it is deeply flawed, too; including a tax on workers’ health care benefits and lack of a public option that would help hold down health care costs and keep insurers accountable.
Click here for detailed look at the two bills and what provisions the AFL-CIO says should be included where the two differ.
You can help fight for real reform by taking part in the National Call-In Day, Wednesday, Jan. 13. Call toll-free 1-877-3-AFL-CIO (1-877-323-5246) and urge your representative to support working families by voting for health reform that:
- Does not tax our health care benefits;
- Requires employers to pay their fair share; and
- Reduces cost—the best way to do this is with a public health care option.
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This country has the means to give every citizen the same health care that congress has
What ever happened to the concept of quality universal single payer healthcare? It seems that the millions on millions of dollars spent by the insurance industry and their front groups on ads has worked. It looks like they are going to have a guaranteed larger customer base and profit. Is the United States incapable of having a system as good as and as cost effective as most other industrialized countries. I doubt any system is perfect, but ours SUCKS! What we need is healthcare for people – not for profit!
This bill will be so unpopular that half the politicians who vote for it will be voted out of office – and they should be. What could possibly be more hated than the greedy, treacherous companies selling “health” insurance? – a federal law forcing poor people who can’t afford these worthless, expensive plans to buy one anyway, or risk heavy fines, or even arrest. People who do have plans can’t afford the deductibles and copays. On top of that, they want to tax the dwindling number of us who somehow still have a half-decent plan.
Yes, many states have laws requiring car insurance. Here in South Florida, a very high number of drivers ignore that law because most of the ever-smaller number of workers with jobs are not paid a living wage which could make it possible for them to afford car insurance. The difference is, these are poorly enforced state laws, not federal laws which can hound and fine and jail you into the poor house. What a travesty!