Wednesday, 16 December 2009
Time for Decisions in the Health Care Bill
After Senator Joe Lieberman stirred the Democratic Party this week, vowing not to vote for the bill if the Medicare buy-in plan was included, the Democrats have decided to drop the public option plan. Many Liberals are upset over the absence of a public option, but many lawmakers think Liberals will still vote for the plan to continue the momentum of the bill.
Obama has continued to urge the momentum by scheduling meetings with Democrats and making public statements. He warns Americans to not believe what the press and paid advertisements are saying about the health care bill and that if the Senate knew what they were voting on, they would vote for it. This explains why many Senators have expressed frustration not knowing all of the details inside the bill. Obama even expressed that without the bill, America will go bankrupt.
Many of the key issues that have risen throughout the health care debate are not receiving enough votes to pass. The drug amendment that would have allowed imported prescription drugs from Canada and Western Europe causing prices of prescription drugs to decrease was not passed. In the past, this amendment controversially received support from Democrats and Obama; however, the Obama administration struck a deal with the pharmaceutical industry to support the health care reform and changed lawmakers’ votes.
Many lawmakers and Obama are still optimistic that the bill will be passed by Christmas and will force the Senate to vote on remaining issues of the bill within the next few days.
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