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Senate leader to unveil healthcare bill today
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will release today his version of healthcare reform. This is the latest in a long line of Democratic healthcare overhaul measures that have dominated Congress this year. Three House committees and two Senate committees passed their healthcare proposals before the full House approved their measure earlier this month.
Reid’s long-awaited version is expected to receive a test vote as early as this week. Reid is unveiling his proposal after waiting on cost estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. Previous healthcare bills came out before the cost estimates and where soon criticized for their high price tags. This time Senate Democrats have scheduled a 5 p.m. EST closed-door briefing on the bill where the CBO will also provide cost estimates.
Reid needs 60 voted in the Senate during a procedural vote to move forward with the bill. That leaves little wiggle room as Democrats hold exactly 60 seats in the Senate. Some Democrats oppose the government-run insurance option while others are concerned that the measure may allow for the federal funding of abortion.
If the Senate ultimately passes its bill, then lawmakers will have to work out the differences between the Senate version and the already-passed House version of healthcare.
back to top21 Comments to “Senate leader to unveil healthcare bill today”
Does this mean theyll be voting Saturday again?
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Thorn 11.18.09 AT 1:07 PM
Does this mean theyll be voting Saturday again?
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Fox’s reported around 11-30-9
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Sen. Reid now says it’ll be Thursday, per AP.
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Senator Reid will have this vote when it is least convenient for any of the actual citizens of the United States to be able to have their say about it.
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No tort reform = no real health care funding or provision reform. It’s just a socialist political power grab.
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Nana 11.18.09 AT 2:17 PM
Sen. Reid now says it’ll be Thursday, per AP
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does he have the 60 votes?
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I don’t think so, but it’s all so fluid and much can change either way in a week or month. We need to keep reminding them that we’re paying attention and let them know what we think – positive and negative. It’s far from over and I am cautiously optimistic. Right now I like to say that 0bama’s healthcare reform is in critical condition.
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Nana – “Right now I like to say that 0bama’s healthcare reform is in critical condition. ”
I pray for the freedom of our nation you are right
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So much for transparency and televised debates. This is the worst power grab by our leaders in a long time.
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Well, Edward Lee Pitts was correct. Reid just announced that the Senate Dem’s new bill is ready to cover everyone and save us 3/4 trillion dollars. Details tomorrow.
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Reid asked for an unprecedented gag order on the CBO numbers. They wrote the bill behind closed doors and will look at the price tag behind closed doors.
Is this the kind of change and transparency America can believe in?
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Is the United States the greatest nation in the world?
Does the United States have the worst health care system of any nation in the United States?
If the Democratic proposals are so bad, why did the Republicans fail to do squat while they were in power for eight years?
You lost. Whine a little harder, please.
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RANDOM NAME
We have the BEST health care system in the world.
Does it have problems? Yes.
Fix the problems not scap the best system in the world.
PLUS, we can’t afford Oboma care, it will bankrupt America.
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Random Name,
When was the last time you heard people going to Canada to get health care? England? France?
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#14
I am not sure of your point? I have heard of people going to Mexico and the Phillipines for health care. Is that because Mexico and the Phillipines have the best health care in the world? Or is it because they have the poorest doctors in the world, who stand out on the street, so to speak, saying, “Will remove your gall bladder for food?”
What is the definition of best health care in the world? Is it terms of what kind of health care Warren Buffet and Bill Gates can get when they need it? Is it the best care my neighbor who lives a very light life style and actually spends a lot of his time donating to and helping others but has no health care coverage of his own gets.
With all due respect (given I just read the President of the United States described as a “snake” in another thread of worldmagblog by people who complain incessantly about people not speaking respectfully about conservative Christians), how do you define “good health care.” And why didn’t the Republican administration not due anything over the last eight years to address problems in our system.
The issue is not how many Americans are going to Candad, England or France? Is is what can people in those countries reasonably expect when they need health care? I live in the United States. I get good health care from a coop. I am not complaining personally, but as a citizen, I am concerned about my fellow citizens. I don’t think it is Canada’s or France’s or England’s job to take care of Americans. I think it is America’s job to take care of Americans.
Republicans had eight years to show their stuff. They are better at whining than showing much.
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Good try Random…..the reason that Republicans did not do anything to “fix” the health care system is that the health “CARE” system is not broken. The health insurance industry needs reforms but not a government takeover.
To even be able to say that handing 1/6 of the American economy to a bunch of corrupt beauracrats is “FIXING” the problem is such a load of hog wash I don’t even have words to say.
Cash for Clunkers – $2 billion over original budget and $350 million unaccounted for.
GM – $1.6 billion loss in third quarter, “AN IMPROVEMENT”.
Stimulus Spending – billions of dollars going to districts that do not exist, creating jobs that do not exist with no government accountability for the spending.
Please, please, please tell me that you REALLY trust this government to take over health care and run it on budget, efficiently and deliver health care that is better than the current system.
Go ahead, tell me how great they are going to run things.
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2,074 pages of absolute garbage that even a landfill would reject and you really think that there is no wasteful spending in this bill? How much money is going to the unions? ACORN? Back into the corrupt politician’s pockets?
Don’t be stupid and support this absolute atrocity and try to say it is going to “FIX” the system. It is going to break the system and not just now.
Why isn’t anybody looking out past 10 years? Too narrowly focused? What happens after 10 years of spending over a trillion dollars (I know it SAYS it is $894 billion and will save us $100 billion on the deficit in the next 10 years)? What happens when the deficit in 2019 surpasses $24 trillion? Do you really think there will be anything worth saving?
It would take 145 years of taking all the profit made by those EVIL companies that encompass the Fortune 500 companies to erase what the national deficit will be in 2019.
145 YEARS. ONE HUNDRED FORTY FIVE YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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“Beginning on line 7, p. 118, section 1303 under “Voluntary Choice of Coverage of Abortion Services” the Health and Human Services Secretary is given the authority to determine when abortion is allowed under the government-run health plan. Leader Reid’s plan also requires that at least one insurance plan offered in the Exchange covers abortions (line 13, p. 120).
What is even more alarming is that a monthly abortion premium will be charged of all enrollees in the government-run health plan. It’s right there beginning on line 11, page 122, section 1303, under “Actuarial Value of Optional Service Coverage.” The premium will be paid into a U.S. Treasury account – and these federal funds will be used to pay for the abortion services.
Section 1303(a)(2)(C) describes the process in which the Health Benefits Commissioner is to assess the monthly premiums that will be used to pay for elective abortions under the government-run health plan and for those who are given an affordability credit to purchase insurance coverage that includes abortion through the Exchange. The Commissioner must charge at a minimum $1 per enrollee per month.”
Yep, that means what it says……a monthly abortion fee.
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People who accuse the Tea Partiers and other Americans of whining because they want to know what they are paying for, because they want to have a voice in their own government, should take a course in American History — well, maybe not. Maybe they should just read the primary documents and original historical documents from back in the day. Maybe they’ll learn what America used to stand for.
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The Congressional Budget Office warns that, “…longer-term calculations assume that the provisions are enacted and remain unchanged throughout the next two decades which is often not the case for major legislation…The long-term budgetary impact could be quite different if key provisions of the bill were ultimatey changed or not fully implemented.”
The CBO is ONLY ALLOWED to score what Congress SAYS it will do, not what everybody expects it will do. So much for Reid’s bill spending less than $900 billion over the next ten years.
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Senate Pages having been doing some heavy lifting today carrying out the 4-ream long Reid health bill to Senator’s desks. Better their backs than mine.
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