Senate Bill Passed

Several weeks ago, it looked unlikely that a bill would pass through the Senate before Christmas. On December 24, the Senate approved the health care overhaul legislation in a difficult partisan split vote by a narrow margin of 60-39.

The bill would require Americans to purchase health insurance or pay a fine if they do not. It would also subsidize private coverage for those who are income-qualified. All this at a cost of $871 billion over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. While the bill is said to cover 31 million uninsured people by 2019, another 23 million uninsured will remain.

President Barack Obama issued a statement before he left on his Hawaii vacation. He praised the final vote by the Senate, calling the provisions "big reforms. If passed, this will be the most important piece of social legislation since the Social Security Act passed in the 1930's."
Congress is on hold for several weeks enjoying a winter vacation. When they come back, they face a greater pressure than before. Republicans are still out to kill the bill any way they can. They are urging the public to contact their senators and let them know about their displeasure for the current bill.

Even within their own party, Democrats will have a challenge. The Senate bill may have passed but it still needs to be merged with the House bill before the President can sign off on it. With no public option plan, differing abortion-funding language, a discrepancy on how many people will be covered and costs -merging the two bills won’t be easy. Both House and Senate Democrats are reluctant to budge on the bills that they signed. In the coming weeks, we will see if everyone can come to an agreement on a compromised bill.