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Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) officially unveiled the House health care reform bill that is headed to the House floor. The ceremony, held on the West steps of the Capitol, marks the greatest progress toward the Democratic Party's top domestic priority goal in more than half a century.
The bill, the Affordable Health Care for America Act -- H.R. 3962 -- includes a public health insurance option that would be required to negotiate with providers -- the top choice of centrist and conservative Democrats.
Coming in at just under $900 billion over ten years, the plan would cover 36 million uninsured Americans. House Democrats have posted the bill online. A summary can be read here and the full version is here. The Congressional Progressive Caucus had pushed hard for a "robust" public option that would have reimbursed providers using Medicare rates. Blue Dog Democrats beat back that effort, costing taxpayers $85 billion over ten years
money that will go to hospitals, doctors and drug makers, increasing the cost of health care. The bill also prevents insurers from discriminating against people with preexisting conditions, caps the financial responsibility that insured individuals will face when medical emergencies strike, bans insurers for dropping folks because they get sick, and proposes a host of other insurance industry reforms. Meanwhile, congressional Republicans are hoping that the historic push will give them an advantage in the 2010 midterm elections. "The lasting image coming out of today's press conference is one of dozens of House Democrats standing proudly behind an incredibly unpopular Nancy Pelosi as she prepares to lead them off a political cliff," said Ken Spain, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.
If anything jumps out at you, let me know at ryan@huffingtonpost.com. The SEIU notes that the bill bans the practice of using domestic violence as a pre-existing condidtion.
SEC. 2754. PROHIBITION ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AS PRE-EXISTING CONDITION.
A health insurance issuer offering health insurance coverage in the individual market may not, on the basis of domestic violence, impose any preexisting condition exclusion (as defined in section 2701(b)(1)(A)) with respect to such coverage.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/29/history-in-the-making-rea_n_338438.html&cp
Buried in the thousands of pages of the health care bills drafted by Democrats in the House and Senate is a provision to protect insurance companies from legal accountability for benefit decisions that cause injury or death to patients, Republicans warned on Wednesday. “You can sue your doctor for malpractice if he makes a mistake practicing medicine, but you cannot sue your insurance company when it makes a medical decision,” Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) said at the press conference near the steps of the Capitol. “That’s just wrong. hadegg pointed to page 140 of H.R. 3962 and page 56 of S. 1796, which include language providing immunity for insurance companies, even if the actions they take result in injury or death. The language comes from section 514 (a) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974.
To illustrate the point, Florence Corcoran told her tragic story at the press conference while holding up a photograph of her infant son and his death certificate. “I keep these in my wallet every day,” Corcoran said, choking with emotion as she told how her son was stillborn 20 years ago after the insurance company denied hospitalization to treat toxemia. “I go through this so nobody else has to go through what I went through by losing my baby.”
“The issue here is when an insurance company practices medicine,” said Rep. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who also is a physician. “That’s the issue -- going against the wishes of a doctor, going against the wishes of a second opinion, that they cannot be held accountable. “We can’t allow that to happen anymore in the country,” Coburn said. “People have a right to hold those accountable that are practicing medicine.” Republican lawmakers said the “deal” Democrats made with insurance companies behind closed doors while drafting the health care bills contradicts previous claims by liberals that insurance companies are not held accountable for harm they cause patients. “She (Corcoran) was in the middle of a high-risk pregnancy when her health insurance company denied her doctor’s recommendation for hospitalization,” Shadegg read from one bright blue poster displayed at the event. “She got a second opinion, and they denied it again. “During the last month of her pregnancy, the baby went into distress, and because she had been denied monitors and denied hospital supervision, the baby did not survive,” Shadegg said. “Our current system left her without a real remedy. This is unacceptable.” “These are not my words,” Shadegg continued. “Those are the words of the late Senator Ted Kennedy spoken in June of 2001” about Florence Corcoran, who had sought Kennedy’s help after her efforts to sue her insurance company were rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in 1992. As Kennedy said at the time: “Patients should have the right to hold their [insurance company] accountable in court when its negligence causes the injury or death of a patient. … No other industry in America enjoys immunity from accountability for its actions, and the insurance industry does not deserve it either.” -Penny Star, CNSNews November 5, 2009
Politics In Plain English
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