Final Push For Passing Health Care Reform This Week

Last week, Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin looked on as looks on as Gina Owens hugs grandson, Marcelas Owens, whose mother, died after losing her job and health care. (Photo: AP)

The White House says that health care legislation will pass, but it's unclear if the votes are there. The Washington Post reports, "The rosy predictions of success, combined with the difficult realities of mustering votes, underscore the gamble that the White House and congressional Democrats are poised to make in an attempt to push Obama's health-care plans across the finish line."

This has also meant a war of the words, as White House senior adviser David Axelrod said of opposition, "Let's have that fight, make my day, I'm ready to have that." Cue House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) who said that Republicans will do "everything we can to make it difficult for them, if not impossible, to pass the bill." Bush administration adviser Karl Rove said that if the Democrats do pass health care, "I think they lose the House of Representatives this fall."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) needs to round up 216 votes; there are 253 Democrats, 178 Republicans and four vacancies. The Wall Street Journal says, "The House approved its version of the health bill in November with three votes to spare, and that margin has more than evaporated as a handful of lawmakers who voted 'yes' then have switched to 'no' or no longer hold their seats. The president will talk to members of Congress one-on-one in meetings and over the phone this week, according to a White House official."

President Obama is appearing in Ohio today—with a woman wrote him about the need for health reform after needing to drop her insurance after Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield raised her premium from $500 to $700 a month. However, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) told the NY Times, "Barack Obama is my president; I want him to succeed. But I think it’s important to have real health care reform. I wish I could vote for it, but I don’t think I can."

Politico breaks down the pitfalls to passing health care, which include abortion, the parliamentarian, and House-Senate distrust.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on March 15, 2010 9:09 AM

Comments [rss]

Fadlo K. Shell

Here's an idea for reform: how about lowering the Medicare age to zero?

Greenpoint60

The Republicans say we have the best health care system in the world because super rich people from Abu Dhabi come here for operations, then they tell you a horror story about health care in Brezhnev’s USSR. They never mention that the German health care system of private insurance covers all citizens at 1/2 the cost per capita of the current US system.

JacqueMehoff

agree GP60, modern western medicine is the same here or there. it's greedy money that's the deciding factor, we have to get that out of the equation.

I like how they use scare tactics about wait times, like there isn't such a thing like that now. Let's see you try and get an appointment for less than 2 weeks at your HMO etc.

Greenpoint60

In Germany they have double the number of doctors per capita, there is usually a short wait time to see the docand there is a modest co-pay. The important point is that doctors are private not working for the state. The rub Americans would not like is that the gov & the insurance cos regulate prices, typical German solution that many Americans would not accept.

Greenpoint60

I say that the only people who will lose when this becomes law are the greedy few that getting rich under the current system

Fadlo K. Shell

Boehner is actually from Ohio.

Kucinich is right. There really is nothing I see coming out of this process that fundamentally change anything, except to stick large segments of the public with a brand new, enormous, mandatory bill that threatens to bankrupt them when they still can't get well because they still can't afford to pay the deductible or buy their medications.

Without at least a public option to compete with private insurance companies (some states have only one health insurance company) this is nothing but a giveaway to them.

Furthermore, if Obama signs such a bill after saying he would not sign one without a public option he deserves to be defeated in 2012, because if that happens then he is a liar.

Greenpoint60

They have private insurance in Germany and everybody is covered. The Germans can teach us a few lessons on managing health care

unretrofiedforu

Germans? I think 'the rest of the industrialized world' is also another good example.

Greenpoint60

I know how the German system works, its a perfect model for us.

Pachinko

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), estimates that illegal immigrants cost federal and state governments some $10.7 billion in health care expenses annually – and that this number may well rise if some version of Obamacare is passed.

NannyState

Oh noes! "$10.5 billion" out of over $1 trillion spent on health care annually. We'll all die!

Greenpoint60

If they break a leg, truck them down to Texas and throw them over the border fence

interlard

Either you're getting rich of the current system or you're an idiot.

The rest of the industrialized world doesn't have this problem. Are we Americans too dumb to make this work or are you full of sh*t? Just say "yes please" to the free healthcare, already.