Community | October 13, 2009 | 13 comments

Big vote for health overhaul in Senate committee TODAY

source: http://rawstory.com/2009/10/big-vote-for-health-overhaul-in-senate-committee/

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bansheewail
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's plan to remake the nation's health care system is about to take its biggest step yet toward becoming reality.

The pivotal Senate Finance Committee was poised to approve sweeping legislation Tuesday requiring nearly all Americans to purchase insurance and ushering in a host of other changes to the nation's $2.5 trillion medical system.

Much work would lie ahead before a bill could arrive on Obama's desk, but action by the Finance Committee would mark a significant advance, capping numerous delays as Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., held marathon negotiating sessions — ultimately unsuccessful — aimed at producing a bipartisan bill.

Four other congressional committees acted before August to pass health legislation, so for months all eyes have been on the Finance Committee, the remaining one. It's also the panel whose moderate makeup most closely resembles the Senate as a whole. And the committee's centrist legislation is seen as the best building block for a compromise plan that could find favor on the Senate floor.

With Democrats holding a 13-10 majority on the committee the outcome of Tuesday's vote is not in doubt. The big question mark is whether moderate Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine will become the first Republican to support a health overhaul bill. The legislation that passed the other House and Senate committees did so without a single Republican vote. On Monday, Snowe still wasn't saying.
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13 comments // Big vote for health overhaul in Senate committee TODAY

  • Manatee_man
  • larrysnotes
  • NuclearLullaby
    • 0
      NuclearLullaby  

    • All I know is if I don't get some sort of health coverage soon,there's are some what decent chance that I could have some very severe medical problems!Of course if you're out of a job & pretty poor, ANY medical problem is serious !

    • 2 years ago
  • neocongo
    • 0
      neocongo  

    • montyzooma-
      Congratulations on presenting an argument! Unfortunately, if you examine all the tables, rather than the cherry-picked data your link provides, you will see that medicare denials are well below the insurance company denials. All of this is neither here nor there in the context of this article, and to stay within that context and yet keep it simple for you, it is better to have a public option, by far, than to have nothing.

      Congratulations on a post that was something more than an irrelevant, smart ass remark!

    • 2 years ago
  • montesooma
  • neocongo
    • 0
      neocongo  

    • A majority of Americans want healthcare reform. There is ample documentation backing that.

      Olympia Snowe has stated she will back the legislation to move it out of the Finance Comittee but has comitted to nothing more.

    • 2 years ago
  • moneymoguls
    • 0
      moneymoguls  

    • They are going to push this healthcare reform bill through no matter what. They don't care what the American people want. It's not going to work with the Gov't running it. They can't do anything right. Too much power and they don't have to answer to anyone. They are spending over a $ billion/month on the Afghan war. Can we afford to do this?
      http://www.handbags-plus.com/BotkierBags/

    • 2 years ago
  • current89
    • 0
      current89  

    • It should be mentioned that the mandate for health insurance and penalty for not having it was weakend by an ammendment to the proposal. Schumer of New york backed that ammendment.

    • 2 years ago
  • masterzip
  • PaulTheFifth
    • 0
      PaulTheFifth  

    • if the bill doesnt have a public option, i hope it fails...how can they require everyone to get health insurance when the insurance companies are still driving up rates with no alternative?

    • 2 years ago
  • kennymotown
  • KaylaMoon
  • bansheewail
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