The hold-out Senate Finance Committee voted by a 14-9 margin to move the fifth and final health care reform proposal through the conservative panel. Senator Olympia J. Snowe was the lone republican who voted in favor of the reform proposal. She joined all 13 Democrats on the panel in support of the landmark bill.
The vote came in just before 3 p.m. and the Senate Finance Committee became the fifth Congressional panel to report out a sweeping health care bill. Now that the bill has officially moved through the panel, deliberations will move on to the Capitol. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will meet with Senate leaders to merge the finance bill with a more generous version from the health committee which passed earlier this year.
The bill seeks to provide health benefits to a large portion of the uninsured by expanding Medicaid, the federal-state insurance program for the poor. It would also create new state-run insurance options for individuals and families earning less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level or $44,100 for a family of four. For moderate-income Americans, the bill would provide government subsidies to help them buy insurance through new government-regulated marketplaces.
The legislation would also require nearly all Americans to obtain coverage. It would also impose stricter regulations on the insurance industry and would ban insurers from denying people coverage who have pre-existing conditions.
There has been an enormous amount of tension between Democrats and Republicans about the health care reform bill. Democrats and Republicans argued over the financial implications of the bill. The budget office has predicted the bill will reduce federal deficits by $81 billion over 10 years. Republicans said the bill would cost more than anyone expects, and eventually drive the nation further into debt.
Cheryl Phillips
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