Breaking News: House Committee Passed Health Care Bill

Bill Smith, Editor: Tonight, House Democrats pushed a health bill (H.R. 3200) along party lines through the House Energy and Commerce Committee by a vote of 31-28. Five Democrats opposed the bill: Reps. John Barrow (GA); Rick Boucher (VA); Jim Matheson (UT); Charlie Melancon (LA) and Bart Stupak (MI). Four Blue "Lap" Dogs voted to support the bill were Reps. Bart Gordon (TN), Baron Hill (IN), Zack Space (OH) and very disappointingly Mike Ross (AR) who touted himself as a conservative leader. Administration officials, Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) agreed with the four "dogs" on Wednesday to delay the full House vote past August, and to cut of $100 billion over 10 years. The bill is still $900 billion.

The the committee agreed to cap increases in the cost of insurance sold under the bill, and also to give the federal government authority to negotiate directly with drug companies for lower prices under Medicare. Previously, they voted 47-11 to grant 12 years of market protection to high-tech drugs used to combat cancer, Parkinson's and other deadly diseases. The decision was a minor trade off against the White House which was seeking faster patients access to generic versions of costly medicines.

Democrats stopped a Republican effort by 31-28 to strip out a provision allowing the government to sell insurance in competition with private industry. Also, abortion opponents were stopped by a vote of 31-27 to bar insurance plans that offer abortion services from accepting customers with government subsidies. However the committee agreed on a provision saying the government could neither require nor prohibit abortion services in insurance plans sold in the exchange.

Insurance companies would be required to sell coverage to all seeking it, without exclusions for pre-existing medical conditions. The federal government would provide subsidies for lower-income families to help them afford policies that would otherwise be out of their reach. There would be "exchanges" - national marketplaces - where consumers both with and without subsidies could evaluate different policies and choose the one they wanted. Insurance plans sold in the exchange would need government approval before increasing premiums by more than one and half times medical inflation. The main expansion of coverage would not come until after the next presidential election in 2013.

Speaker Pelosi, who previously said a bill would be out of committee before recess, has set a September 15 deadline of any talks to produce a bipartisan compromise. At that time, Pelosi will bring the bill for a full vote by the House. Pelosi said,"Let me assure you: There will be a health care reform bill passed and it will make a big difference in the lives of the American people." Pelosi has also promised a floor vote on a single-payer health care system that would be fully run by the government.

In the Senate, sources advise that Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) has been pressured by the White House and Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and has caved and intends for the Finance Committee to begin voting by September 15. If no bipartisan bill is achieved, then a bill will be tailored to the Democrats and voted on.

House Republican Leader, John Boehner (R-OH), said that "Democrats are in for a long, hot summer once they return to their congressional districts, where Americans are lining up in opposition to a government takeover of health care." However, it is apparent that the Democrats intended to ram through a nationalized health care bill in spite opposition by either Republicans or the general public. Expect the democrats to be hiding out during the August recess while the media and former Obama campaign team pushed for the Democrats national health care bill.

To prevent the irreversible train wreck of the best health care system in the world, IT will be critical for American citizens to make every effort to create a majority change in the U.S. House and to gain seats the U.S. Senate in 2010 Also, it appears that Obama will be forced to make national health care a center piece of his campaign in 2012.

---

Tags: democrats, government healthcare, US House, Washington D.C. To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!