Posts Tagged ‘House of Representatives’

In the News

December 30, 2009

The Health Care Fight is Not Over

Although the left has been celebrating the passage of Obamacare in the Senate as further evidence that the President’s health care reform initiative is a done deal the health care reform fight is not over. The truth is that this bill can not yet be transmitted to the President until very different versions of Obamacare are reconciled. The House and Senate must agree on what to send to the President for his signature before this fight is over.

There are key differences between the House and Senate approaches to Obamacare as explained by Nina Owcharenko and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D. in a paper published by the Heritage Foundation lists 6 key differences between the two bills. Procedurally, the House passed a version of Obamacare with a public option, an income surtax and with strong language forbidding the use of federal monies to fund abortion. The Senate chose not to take up the House bill and passed a version of Obamacare with no public option, taxes on expensive health care plans and with weak language forbidding the use of federal funds for abortion. Sens. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have since blocked the appointment of conferees to reconcile the differing versions of Obamacare. The options liberals have to get the bill to the President’s desk are therefore limited. (more…)

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In the News

July 15, 2009

Industry Groups Oppose House Health Reform Plan

More than 30 business trade groups, from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the American Farm Bureau Federation, yesterday voiced their opposition to the House’s latest health reform bill, saying in a letter to representatives that the legislation “would not improve the [health care] system, but in fact would jeopardize the parts of the system that currently work.”

Among the more contentious provisions the coalition opposed:

– The creation of a government-run health insurance plan.

– Mandates on employers to provide health coverage for workers or pay an 8 percent payroll tax (”pay or play”).

– A new Health Benefits Advisory Council that would determine health benefit requirements in coverage plans.

“We call on Congress to enact reforms that lower cost, improve quality and provide greater access to affordable coverage for all without jeopardizing those who currently have coverage,” the group said.

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Key Documents

July 14, 2009

House Health Bill

Click here for the newest version of the House Tri-Committee bill.

Click here to read the Top Line Changes between the Tri-Committee Discussion Draft (June 19, 2009) and America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009.

Click here to read the analysis of America’s Affordable Health Choices Act.

Click here for the July 14 CBO analysis.

Click here for the July 8 CBO/JCT analysis.

Click here for the July 17 CBO analysis.

Click here  for the August 4th letter from the Congressional Progressive Caucus to Speaker Pelosi.

Click here for the Sepetmber 29 letter from House Democrats to Speaker Pelosi regarding abortion funding.

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Latest Research

July 1, 2009

The House Health Care Bill: A Blueprint for Federal Control

The U.S. House of Representatives leadership recently unveiled a mammoth 852-page blueprint for overhauling Americans’ health care: the draft “Tri-Committee Health Reform Bill.” It is the product of three major House Committees with jurisdiction over health policy–Education and Labor, Energy and Commerce, and Ways and Means. If enacted, this comprehensive legislation would amount to federal control of the health care sector of the economy, with the implementation of far-reaching policies impacting doctors and patients in the public as well as the private sector.

Click here to read more.

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Key Documents

June 25, 2009

Testimony on House Health Care Bill

The Heritage Foundation’s Director of the Center for Health Policy Studies, Robert Moffit, testified last week at the first hearing on the House Health Care Bill before the Committee on Education and Labor in the House of Representatives. Read his testimony, entitled “Statement on the Tri-Committee Draft Proposal for Health Care Reform”.

Read John Sheils’ (VP, The Lewin Group) testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on the health care bill, entitled “The Impact of the House Health Reform Legislation on Coverage and Provider Incomes”.

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Key Documents

June 19, 2009

House Tri-Committee Bill

The House Tri-Committee Health Reform Discussion Draft:

Click here to read the Full Bill Text.

Click here to read the Bill Summary.

Click here to read the June 30, Section-by-Section Analysis.

Click here to read the Letter to Pelosi from Pro-Life Dems [June 25, 2009].

Click here to read the Letter to Pelosi from the Democratic Blue Dog Coalition [July 9, 2009].

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