Friday, 20 November 2009
“Last Leg” in Health Care Reform?
The CBO announced its estimate for Senator Reid’s health care plan at $849 billion and that the plan would cut the federal budget deficit by $127 billion in 10 years. Both of these numbers meet President Obama’s standards of having a health care plan that costs $900 billion and that the plan also won’t add to the federal deficit.
Senator Reid hopes to have the Senate vote on the bill by Saturday and said, “Tonight begins the last leg of this journey.” Yet it is not so obvious that the process of health care reform is even close to being on the last leg of the journey.
In the Senate, many Republicans are completely against Reid’s plan and even the Democrats themselves are split over many issues. Senators are still strongly divided on whether they should include a government-run public health insurance option, how to pay for the reform, taxation, and other controversial issues like abortion. Also, if debate over the bill goes into next year, the Congressional elections may play a big part in how lawmakers vote, which is why Senator Reid and President Obama are trying to deliver a plan as soon as possible.
However, if the Senate votes in favor of the bill, the Senate will then rewrite the bill. The CBO will have to give another estimate to the cost of the reform. Then the Senate and the House will work out a compromise and combine their versions of the bill. Once that is all done, President Obama can sign the bill into law.
Really, only when the Senate and the House start combining their bills should it be considered the “last leg of the journey.” But we still have a long way to go.
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