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HECC passed the House Health Care Reform Bill last night

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Alexandros

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/31/h...s_n_249150.html

House Health Bill Clears Last Committee Before Floor Vote, Recess

After nearly two weeks of delays, a health care bill passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee late Friday night, setting the stage for a full floor vote in the lower chamber -- but not for more than a month, as the House will be on vacation until Sept. 8.

The committee passed its reform bill 31 to 28, with five Democrats joining every Republican in voting no. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders said at a press conference earlier Friday that they will spend much of their August recess working to reconcile the Energy and Commerce bill with the stronger bills passed by the Ways and Means and Education and Labor committees on July 17.

The HECC was the last committee needed to pass the bill, and they rushed it through before recess. Now, very literally, the only thing to do on September 8th is enact it into law.

My only hope is that 5 weeks is long enough for the public to learn enough about this bill to become angry. Already, more people than I could have imagined are realizing what this bill really means. Let's hope the trend continues throughout the recess.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/31/h...s_n_249150.html

House Health Bill Clears Last Committee Before Floor Vote, Recess

The HECC was the last committee needed to pass the bill, and they rushed it through before recess. Now, very literally, the only thing to do on September 8th is enact it into law.

My only hope is that 5 weeks is long enough for the public to learn enough about this bill to become angry. Already, more people than I could have imagined are realizing what this bill really means. Let's hope the trend continues throughout the recess.

There is no link to the content of the bill from Huffington Post. Then again, it IS the Huffington Post. They're so full of hot air... :o (*Sigh*)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yes, the current bill being discussed in the house is a public option, essentially a government run health insurance company. It'll flop in a few years because it is flawed at it's core, but it will probably "ease" the general public into a universal healthcare bill. that's their plan anyways.

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Umm, you do know that, actually, the bill was completely revised and there's no more public healthcare? There will be no socialized medicine, guys. The best Obama could do is some menial "co-op" crap that will do nothing. Thank your lucky stars.

Your assessment is probably incorrect. Health insurance co-ops, the way that Republicans first started using it and how it's being used in the health care debate, has not been defined. Co-ops are allowed and already exist; in the insurance market it's called mutual insurance, and there are also tax exempt providers in current operation as well. Therefore, co-op, as it's being used by the left and right in the health care debate, can only come to be defined as some new government intrusion. I can't wait to see how this compromise will play out. The republicans seem to have gotten a little of what they wanted in the debate, and now they can finally flex their free market muscles. When the debate is finished, I'm sure one will once again be able to bare witness to the destruction that conservatives cause to the idea and promotion of capitalism.

Edited by RussK
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When the debate is finished, I'm sure one will once again be able to bare witness to the destruction that conservatives cause to the idea and promotion of capitalism.
Sadly this is true, and if Obama and his team were less ambitious they'd have co-opted the GOP long ago. Even before Obama was on the scene, Gingrich was talking about cooperating with Hillary on some type of plan that would help the poor and so on.

Basically, the Democrats have to stick to a very narrow area, on which the GOP will not challenge them: i.e., that health care is a right. Then, they have to propose their plan, and challenge the GOP to come up with a better way to fulfill that right. The GOP will comply, branding it "free market", and setting the stage for more government control further down the line when people realize this new "free-market" plan did not turn out so well.

I think the best guess is that something will pass, but that we'll move toward more government health-care as we've done in the past: one step at a time rather than a single big jump. On the positive side, the slower move buys some time.

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the way that Republicans first started using it.

It seems that I am wrong on this point. I did some searching and couldn't find anything to verify this claim. From what I can tell, the originator, the first to present the proposition to his peers in the senate, was Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.). I must have misunderstood the news, or it could have been that the first time I heard of it was through a republicans mouth. This does not negate the main point or conclusion of the previous post.

Edited by RussK
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Over the weekend the Secretary of Health and Human Services said the "public option" wouldn't make it into the final bill. Today it seems the adminsitration is backing away from that pronouncement. the right-wing blogs are covering it. Look up Michelle Malkin's blog for more details.

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