US Senate Health Panel Clears Insurance Overhaul

 

Thursday, Jul 16,2009, 11:25:37 AM   Click:

WASHINGTON_The Senate Health Committee to take a landmark vote Wednesday to approve legislation extending medical coverage to nearly all Americans, becoming the first panel of the Congress to act on President Barack Obama's top national priority.

The 13-10 vote a $ 600 billion measure would require individuals to obtain health insurance and employers to contribute to costs. The government should provide financial assistance for insurance premiums for individuals and families up to four times the poverty level of the United States, or about $ 88,000 for a family of four. The health committee, but legislation is a broader Senate bill that is still developing.

Obama has pushed the House and Senate aggressively to passing legislation before their August recess. That would let him sign comprehensive legislation in October. The United States is the only developed nation that does not have a health plan for all its citizens. About 50 million of America's 300 million people are without health insurance.

"This time we've produced legislation that by and large I think the American people want," said Sen. Chris Dodd, a Democrat who stood in for committee chairman Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. Kennedy, who has made health care legislation a lifelong priority, is being treated for brain cancer.

But the top Republican on the panel, Sen. Mike Enzi, argued that the bill would break Obama's promises by adding to the deficit.


Obama himself was driving the action, scheduling a White House statement to reiterate that a bill will get done. It marked the third straight day the president has kept up pressure on health care. The drive included a television ad blitz by Obama's political operation, targeting moderate lawmakers of both parties.

On Tuesday, House Democratic leaders pledged to meet the president's goal of health care legislation before their August break, offering a $1.5 trillion plan that for the first time would make health care a right and a responsibility for all Americans. Left to pick up most of the tab were medical providers, employers and the wealthy.

"We cannot allow this issue to be delayed. We cannot put it off again," Rep. Henry Waxman, a Democrat and the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce committee, said Tuesday. "We, quite frankly, cannot go home for a recess unless the House and the Senate both pass bills to reform and restructure our health care system."