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Legislative Update

Posted by: Julia Eisman on Nov 20, 2009

This week moved us another step closer to the finish line as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) unveiled the Senate's health reform legislation, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  We've all worked so hard to get to this point, but the closer we get to making history, the more important it becomes to ramp up our energy and efforts.

The legislation makes significant improvements for America's families. It would:

• Provide coverage to 31 million currently uninsured Americans.

• Make health care more affordable to America's families with incomes below 400 percent by providing tax credits to help them purchase health coverage in an Exchange.

• Prohibit insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions and from charging higher premiums based on gender or health status.

The other piece of good news: According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the bill is fully paid for, and would reduce the nation's deficit by $130 billion over the first ten years and by a whopping $650 billion over the following decade.

Next steps:

Motion to proceed: Now that Senator Reid has officially introduced a health reform bill, the Senate needs to take a formal vote on a motion to proceed. This simply means that 60 senators must agree that floor debate should begin on this bill. We will likely see this vote occur late Saturday or sometime on Sunday.

Amendments: The Senate will be on recess during the week of Thanksgiving but as soon as senators return, they will start to introduce amendments on the floor. Senator Reid has indicated that he wants to give the Senate ample time to discuss the bill and make changes to it. The debate in the Senate will last much longer than the House. Not only will the Senate spend more time discussing different aspects of the bill, the process will also be punctuated by procedural votes to move on from one amendment to another.

The Majority Leader has set a goal for the Senate to vote on final passage of this health reform legislation by Christmas.

In the meantime, it is vital that you continue contacting your Senators to let them know how important it is that health insurance reform becomes a reality this year. Call them at 1-800-828-0498, or click here to be patched through.

We will keep you up-to-date as the process moves forward and inform you as Senators introduce amendments that would improve or harm the bill.