Sweeping Health Care Reform passed in the House today! Times they are a changing! Its time to get out your dancing shoes as the new health care reform bill is headed to the Senate where they are sure to excorcise it of any important or helpful laws that are in the slightest way painful for our nation’s health care companies.
“Democrats say the House measure — paid for through new fees and taxes, along with cuts in Medicare — would extend coverage to 36 million people now without insurance while creating a government health insurance program. It would end insurance company practices like not covering pre-existing conditions or dropping people when they become ill.”
“Don’t be alarmed Clarice, this bill is not going to hurt you at all,” said Senate Republicans to the Big Pharma and Health Insurance Company lobbyists.
“Remember Clarice, this bill is here to help you by giving you more access to the uninsured in America, by forcing them to pay for health insurance that they can’t afford instead of making a single payer nationalized health care plan that would lower costs. This plan is sure to help raise health care costs while devaluing the dollar and further ruining any chance of saving our economy.”
This from my interpretation of Hannibal Lechter talking to the Senate Republicans where they are collectively named Clarice.
Here is more from the New York Times article about the passage of this momentous bill.
“This bill is a wrecking ball to the entire economy,” said Representative Jack Kingston, Republican of Georgia. “We need targeted specific reforms to help people who have fallen through the health care cracks.”
Most employers would have to provide coverage or pay a tax penalty of up to 8 percent of their payroll. The bill would significantly expand Medicaid and would offer subsidies to help moderate-income people buy insurance from private companies or from a government insurance plan. It would also set up a national insurance exchange where people could shop for coverage.
Republicans forced a House vote on their much more modest plan that would expand coverage to just three million of the uninsured. But its authors said it would bring down the costs of private insurance premiums, which they argued was the chief concern of most Americans.
“More taxes, more spending and more government is not the plan for reform the people support,” said Representative Virginia Foxx, Republican of North Carolina and one of the conservatives who relentlessly criticized the Democrats’ plan.
But Democrats said their proposal was long overdue, would relieve the mounting anxiety of Americans struggling to get and retain health insurance, and would ultimately improve the economy by bringing spiraling health care costs under control.
“Our plan is not perfect, but it is a good start toward providing affordable health care to all Americans,” said Representative Peter A. DeFazio of Oregon.
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