House Passes Landmark Health Care Reform
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| Union members have rallied for health care across the country. |
This is what progress looks like. Tonight, by a 220-215 vote, the U.S. House has passed a historic health care reform bill that will improve the nation’s health care system, covering millions of uninsured and making insurance work better for those who have it.
H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, fulfills the decades-long promise to create a system that provides affordable, high-quality health care coverage to nearly everyone. It will break the stranglehold of insurance company greed and cut costs for both families and the country. It will make a real difference for families across the country.
The bill is fairly funded, relying on employer responsibility and a surtax on the highest earners—not a tax on middle-class workers’ health benefits. And it offers the choice of a public health insurance option that can compete with private insurers.
Across the country, a broad coalition of community groups, including the union movement, fought hard and reached out to House members to ask them to pass this critical bill. Thousands of your letters and phone calls helped make the difference.
Doctors, Seniors Unite Behind House Health Care Bill
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| Members of CWA 3122 in Florida spread the word about the need for health care reform. | |
In a massive show of support for health care reform, the nation’s largest organization for doctors, the American Medical Association (AMA), today urged the House to pass the bill it begins debate on today, H.R. 3962, Affordable Health Care for America Act.
The AMA’s historical backing for health care reform follows this morning’s endorsement of the House bill by the largest U.S. advocacy group for seniors, the 40-million member AARP. As we noted yesterday, the bill has many provisions that will immediately benefit to seniors.
The American Cancer Society Action Network also is throwing its support behind the bill, calling it “an exceptional opportunity” to improve our health care system.
These groups are joining a broad coalition, from businesses to civil rights organizations, groups for youth and for seniors, unions, medical professionals and faith groups, all asking Congress to pass this critical bill that will expand health care coverage, cut costs and put patients first. This support is critical, as the closer we get to real reform, the harder the insurance companies and their lobbyists and front groups will fight to block it through scare tactics and falsehoods.
Want to get involved? Click here to call Congress.
National Week of Action: Call Congress for Health Care
The U.S. House is getting ready to vote on health care reform that provides affordable and quality care for all. This is a critical time, and every vote in Congress matters.
Today, we’re launching a National Week of Action for Health Care, and you can take part by letting Congress know we need health care reform now. Tell your senators and representative that we can’t wait any longer for health care reform that:
* Controls costs and doesn’t tax our benefits.
* Provides guaranteed coverage to all Americans.
* Includes a public health insurance plan option.
* Holds insurance companies accountable.
* Requires all employers to pay their fair share.
Place your call by clicking the “Call” button at the bottom of the box above. You will be asked to provide information so we will know to which members of Congress we should place your call.
Dingell Explains Decades-Long Quest for Health Reform, and Other News
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Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) has been fighting for health care reform for more than 50 years, and he’s seen the situation become even more dire over the past decade. In a great new op-ed, he explains the hard truths of our broken system and why we can’t wait any longer for health care reform:
This is not a time to give into fear….Reform is neither easy nor cheap, but the cost of inaction is far greater—in terms of lives lost, quality of life, and dollars. Make no mistake, if we don’t reduce costs we face certain economic disaster.
I will tell my fellow members, when you explain a vote like this one to the generations that live with the consequences of these decisions there is no poll, not even an election result, that can justify your decision. You will be asked about this vote until the day you die. Years from now, none of these things we put so much stock in now will matter. All anyone will want to know is: did you do the right thing when history called on you? It is time for health care reform. We can’t afford to wait. We can’t afford to think small. We can’t afford to fail.
House Health Reform Bill Debate Begins, and Other Health Care News
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The U.S. House’s historic health care reform legislation—which would dramatically improve health coverage in this country while cutting the U.S. budget deficit in the long term—is headed to the House floor today for debate. The vote on H.R. 3962 will happen later this week or early next week.
This comprehensive, fairly funded bill will provide millions of uninsured people with affordable coverage and put tough new rules in place on insurers to protect consumers who already have insurance. The bill includes real responsibility for employers, subsidies for low- and middle-income families to help pay for insurance and a public health insurance plan to compete with insurance companies.
Alliance for Retired Americans Fights for Reform, and Other Health Care News
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Priscilla King, an Alliance for Retired Americans member from New Hampshire, got the chance to join House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.) for yesterday’s unveiling of the House’s historic health care reform bill.
King noted that one of the many ways the bill would improve our health system is by closing the “donut hole” that affects seniors who gets prescription drugs through Medicare.
The current structure of Medicare’s drug coverage leaves a $1,700 gap if your costs are more than $2,830 a year. King and her husband have been victims of that flawed policy and have gone into debt to pay for the drugs they need.
House Health Reform Bill Would Cover Millions—Affordably
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Today, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled a comprehensive reform bill that would guarantee coverage for 96 percent of the U.S. public.
Among other things, the bill, H.R. 3962, includes a public option, expands Medicaid coverage to families who earn up to 150 percent of the federal poverty level, provides help for middle-class families to get coverage and sets tough new rules for insurers, making sure that no one can be denied care or be rejected from coverage because of pre-existing conditions. It’s fairly funded through a combination of employer responsibility, cost savings and a surtax on the extremely wealthy—and does not get its funding from taxes on middle-class workers’ benefits. All that, and it will reduce the deficit in the long term.
It’s the kind of change America voted for last fall. You can read the full bill here.
Reid: Public Option Will Be in Health Care Bill
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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced in a Capitol Hill press conference today that he will send a health care reform bill to the Senate floor that includes a public option. States will have until 2014 to decide if they want to participate in the public plan.
Reid said he was optimistic that health care reform will pass:
“I feel good about progress we have made within our caucus and with the White House, and we are all optimistic about reform because of the unprecedented momentum that exists.
“I believe that a public option can achieve the goal of bringing meaningful reform to our broken system. It will protect consumers, keep insurers honest and ensure competition. And that’s why we intend to include it on the bill that will be submitted to the Senate for consideration.”
U.S. Health Care System Wasting Billions, and Other Health Care News
A new report today from Thomson Reuters shows how badly the nation’s health care system is failing working families. The report estimates that more than $500 billion, and maybe as much as $800 billion, is being wasted every year. Health costs in the United States are so high because standard practices are so wasteful. If we can recover savings from that waste, it would far exceed the cost of health care legislation being considered in Congress—legislation that can provide more people with affordable, quality coverage.
Some “highlights” from this unsettling report:
- The average hospital is spending a quarter of its budget on billing and paperwork.
- Tens of billions of dollars a year are wasted because of outdated, paper-based records systems that discourage information sharing.
- Conditions like uncontrolled diabetes that should be avoided through smart preventative care cost tens of billions a year.
- Medical mistakes and unnecessary care cost hundreds of billions a year.
Maine Union Members Tell Snowe to Support a Public Option, and More Health Care News
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When Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) suggested she would block health care reform if it included a public option, Maine workers took action: The Maine AFL-CIO put its convention on hold so attendees could call her and tell her that a public option is essential to make reform work. (Recent polls in Maine suggest Mainers strongly support a public option.)
Here are some of the latest developments in the fight for real health care reform:
- Momentum is building for a public option in final bills being crafted in the U.S. Senate and the House. This is a critical time to contact your senators and representatives.
- Big companies like Wal-Mart are lobbying hard to exempt the coverage they provide from health care reform. That would leave tens of millions of workers stuck in the same high-cost, no-guarantee system we have today.
- 55 members of Congress who oppose giving America the choice of a public option are actually getting government-administered health care through Medicare.
