Stateside: Healthcare legislation debate, Part 2

Okay, so the Democrats won the vote to send the Senate Bill to President Obama for his signature 219 to 212, with 34 of them voting with the 178 Republicans who voted against it. Majority Leader of the House Steny Hoyer is now calling up the Reconciliation Bill, and the Chair says the Bill is read and calls a vote on it having been read. Then a Republican member calls a motion to recommit the Bill, which he has at the desk. Hoyer asks that the motion be read, but Chair Obey says no. Rep. Camp then gets five-minutes and begins to speak, but is interrupted by arguments over whether the motion should be read. The motion regards the President’s Executive Order, which he says Obama can rescind. Camp yields his time to another member, who says that the healthcare bill is the biggest pro-abortion step since Roe v. Wade.

This is bad news for the Democrats, especially as it was they who chose to waive in the Special Rule yesterday the necessity to read any amendments or motions in the House. Hoyer, who looks like he hasn’t slept for a week, is now saying that this motion is inconsistent with the process of reconciliation and that the Republicans who have already spoken are also mis-stating the case. What is happening here is that the Republicans are trying to get the Stupak-Pitts amendment into the Senate legislation that has just been passed. The motion was defeated, with only 30 Democrats voting with the Republicans this time, and then the Chair called for the vote on the Reconciliation Bill, and House Leader Hoyer asked for a recorded vote. This bill contains the legislative “fixes” that will be incorporated in the Senate bill that has already been passed.

We are at Big Kahuna time, and I’m thankful that it’s a 15-minute vote so that I can go make a cup of coffee and explain to you why, until now, I’ve not written much about healthcare reform. It’s because I’m afraid of the subject. Having never had to have health care insurance in my life until I came to the United States, my first contact with it was when the paperwork for my first job included my being asked which healthcare plan I wanted. If I didn’t take one through my job, I’d have to show proof that I had an individual plan. So I signed up, and was amazed on my first paycheck to see that while only a small amount was taken from my paycheck, my employer was paying a three-figure sum to insure me.

The next scary thing was when my doctor prescribed some medication for a hereditary chronic condition and when I went to pick up the prescription the pharmacist told me that what my doctor had prescribed was too expensive, so she’d substituted a generic brand instead. WTF? Since when did pharmacists know better than physicians? Since health insurance companies told them to keep their costs down.

Whoah! With four minutes to go on the vote, healthcare reform is passing at 217-205.

To be continued…

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--PEACE—

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