Health Care Repeal Vote Passes House

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans voted unanimously on Wednesday to fully repeal health care reform, though Senate leaders have said they will not take up the lower chamber's bill. Instead, the fight will move to the less glamorous arenas of funding and rule writing. The vote was 245-189, with three Democrats -- Dan Boren (D-Okla.), Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.), and Mike Ross (D-Ark.) -- voting for repeal.

The vote to repeal health care was initially delayed by a parliamentary debacle in which two House Republicans skipped the swearing-in ceremony for a Capitol fundraiser, yet voted despite not being official members of Congress. It was delayed an additional week as the House paid tribute to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and other victims of the Arizona massacre.

The health care bill that the House would repeal allows parents to keep children on their health plans until the age of 26, bars insurers from denying service due to preexisting conditions, expands Medicaid funding dramatically and extends coverage to some 30 million uninsured Americans by 2019. It's the largest piece of social policy the Democratic Party has enacted in decades. "It is a big deal, as Joe Biden said, in other words," Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told progressive media Wednesday morning.

The GOP is calling it the Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act. Democrats, defending the bill, argued that covering 30 million additional people necessarily creates jobs in the health care sector and reduces the burden on small businesses. And repealing it would add more than $200 billion to the federal deficit, according to the Congressional Budget Office. "I want to just advise people watching at home playing the now-popular drinking game, if you take a shot whenever the Republicans say something that's not true, please assign a designated driver," Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) said.

Speaking at a news conference on Capitol Hill on Tuesday afternoon, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) announced that close to 500,000 petitions in support of repealing health care reform have been gathered by the website repealitnow.org.

King said the Affordable Care Act would end up "destroying the doctor-patient relationship," as well as "damaging and eventually destroying the insurance industry in America." He predicted some Democratic support for repeal, telling reporters plus-or-minus 15 Democrats would vote against President Obama's trademark legislation.

Only 13 of the Democratic caucus members who voted against the Affordable Care Act in March of 2010 have gone on to serve in the 112th Congress.

"I hope it's more than that," he said. "I'm hopeful that as the debate goes on there will be more Democrats that come over to our side on repeal." Pelosi said she expected some Democrats who opposed the bill initially to now oppose repeal.

Asked to comment on recent polling that shows declining Republican support for repeal, King said, "Those who are intensively for repeal of ObamaCare outnumber those who intensively support it," adding, "that's the number to look at."

Now that health care reform is law, repealing it would affect people already benefiting. Dave Sizemore, a Republican contributor in Eric Cantor's hometown, says he'll be switching political affiliation after the GOP's "stunt" on health care.

Sizemore, 59, is disabled and has been on Medicare since 2005. He lives with multiple sclerosis, and because he cannot buy a medigap policy due to pre-existing conditions, medical care and prescriptions have been costly.

"Now, with the new 50 percent discount on drugs while in the donut hole, I do not need to split my medications in half anymore, to afford prescriptions," Sizemore told HuffPost on Wednesday. "I am a much healthier, happier person because of it."

Brian Lewis, a contractor from Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico, told HuffPost that after he was blindsided by a drunk driver five years ago, he was unable to get medical coverage to cover his injuries. Lewis said he suffered from back pain and chronic panic attacks after the accident, but added that when he reported this to health care professionals, it was registered as a pre-existing condition.

"They denied me insurance based on that," Lewis said. "All my medical costs have been paid out of pocket. I've been doing this now for the last four years... it just proves how screwed up our medical system is in the country. It's not set up to benefit anyone in this country except insurance companies."

Sumner Handy, a 24-year-old Teach For America alumnus from Severna Park, Maryland, told HuffPost that the Affordable Care Act has allowed him to get on his parents' insurance, after losing his job and health insurance at the end of the 2009-2010 academic year. "I was diagnosed with cancer in October of 2010," he told HuffPost Wednesday afternoon, "so getting on my parents' insurance has, perhaps, saved my life."

Handy became uninsured in August of 2010, but was able to get on his parents' health insurance in mid-September. He's been undergoing chemotherapy since October, and may undergo surgery in February. Were health care reform to be repealed, Handy said he would be unable to afford to continue treatment.

"I am 24 years old now," he told HuffPost. "I turn 26 in June 2012, and I expect to be able to work and procure my own health insurance by that date."

Debbie Harris has worked in customer service in Kansas City, Mo., but she is currently unemployed and uninsured. "Because I had two heart valves replaced almost six years ago, no one would accept me," she told HuffPost in an email Wednesday. "Blue Cross, United Healthcare, Coventry -- all turned me down."

Harris, 52, said she finally found insurance through the American Medical and Life Insurance Company - the company was forced to pay a fine of $700,000 in 2009 after New York officials accused it of leaving patients with huge hospital bills but no meaningful coverage.

"They cover $100 for any blood test a year, and I have to get my blood tested every one to two weeks since I'm on a blood thinner," Harris said. "It basically covers nothing. It's all I could get. They were the only ones that accepted me because I had an operation six years ago."

In 2014 the rejections Harris received would be illegal under the Affordable Care Act, but right now her options are limited. "I just can't get sick ever," she told HuffPost.

Comments

[seted]

08:18 AM on 01/23/2011

Wouldn't be amusing if someday there were Medic Machines which could diagnose and treat a patient? I could vision a large machine with a movable gurney, a patient could enter it like a big MRI and it could run blood tests, x rays, etc and administer appropriat­e drugs/ therapy / treatment instructio­ns. A device that could be programed daily with the latest treatment techniques.

[seted]

08:16 AM on 01/23/2011

Wouldn't be amusing if someday there were Medic Machines which could diagnose and treat a patient? I could vision a large machine with a movable gurney, a patient could enter it like a big MRI and it could run blood tests, x rays, etc and administer appropriat­e drugs/ therapy / treatment instructio­ns

[Puzzlr]

12:16 PM on 01/22/2011

I thought their mandate (snicker) was to do something, not do nothing. This is just a time wasting exercise. I hope the teas are happy.

[SteveDenver]

11:49 PM on 01/21/2011

Republicans know that repeal stops here: it won't pass the senate and Obama has veto power.

This is all a show for their shrill, incurious following.

[royevatom]

11:18 PM on 01/21/2011

This is not about insurance companies or health care it is about the same old thing, the industries lobbying and asserting their influence on our government, they are heavily involved in every piece of legislation, prepared by them in many cases.
We need public campaign financing, term limits and to remove the lobbyists from the halls of our government.
Our Democracy depends on it, you can see and know the results of undue influence but you can't do anything about it and that is because we are not who we think we are and tell each other we are.
After all; we are dancing in the dark.

[Alan Papacito]

08:43 PM on 01/21/2011

4,000,000 years B.C. / Cave in N. America

Village: We need fire for heat, to cook, to ward off predators.

Borak Boehner: H3LL NO YOU DON'T!! This mastodon killing fire technology needs to be repealed. We don't need fire!

[zeroesandones]

08:08 PM on 01/20/2011

i just want the members of the house that voted against the HCR..
to opt out of their government provided health insurance...

[tmf945]

08:29 PM on 01/20/2011

Uh huh...And I want a winning Powerball ticket

[tominnyc]

04:11 AM on 01/21/2011

Greed rules

but this GOP domestic terrorism is Way Beyond

why do they want to kill people?
Medicare (80%) and AARP (20%)
is crucial in mom@93.5yo healthcare
these GOP intend deletion of lives to steal while invoking Jesus for their
greed and killing and wars
forked-tongued -tongued intent on destruction of USA in so many ways :(

[HST]

07:22 PM on 01/20/2011

More small businesses are offering health benefits to workers

The increase is partly attributed to a tax credit created by the nation's new healthcare law. Some insurers are aggressively marketing the break, which can offset up to 35% of a company's costs.
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/27/business/la-fi-health-coverage-20101227


More Small Businesses Offering Health Care To Employees Thanks To Obamacar http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/01/06/more-small-businesses-offering-health-care-to-employees-thanks-to-obamacare/

Why do republican'ts hate small businesses?

Under Bush's policies they suffered too .

Is it because they are afraid they might start hiring again?

[CTtransplant]

08:52 PM on 01/20/2011

Well...you can't keep people oppressed when they have jobs....nor can you make them do what you want....

[tominnyc]

04:15 AM on 01/21/2011

they have a solid agenda

and first and foremost is bringing President down

so they cannot allow any real growth under this administration
yES, i know, more GOP mega-danger
hell yes they can :(

[pachel]

05:44 PM on 01/20/2011

Will someone please help me understand something. Please because I don't understand.

If a person doesn't have insurance or is denied, they can just go to a free clinic/hospital to get treatment and that's tax payers dollars.

National Health Insurance isn't wanted by half of the population but they are still paying for it now because people can go to a free hospital and tax payers are still paying.


Am I missing something? Wouldn't it be cheaper to just have national health care like other countries?

[CTtransplant]

06:11 PM on 01/20/2011

Exactly what most of us have been saying all along...it's only logical - but that escapes some people.

[Melchiah Alexander]

02:18 AM on 01/29/2011

You are partially correct.

If I get injured, and have no insurance I can go to a hospital and they are required to treat me, whether I can pay or not (Unless they're a private hospital).
However, hospitals are there to save you from death. They will not take care of your cancer treatment, migraine medications ($600 per month, in my case), or anything else that isn't vital to stabilizing you in the moment. They're emergency centers, not treatment centers.
Further, say I do go to a hospital and I cannot pay. Yes, the hospital writes that off and the taxpayer foots the bill. That is not the end of it though, that debt doesn't just go away. It gets sent to a collection agency and then you're hounded, sometimes for years, while those companies try to collect.
Just one trip of mine to the hospital came with a price tag of $3,000. No ambulance included, and I didn't even stay overnight. If I had insurance, it would've of been fine. That trip to the hospital though has since destroyed my credit - I simply don't have $3,000 laying around. The realty of it is that even with a job, a lot of people have to decide between paying rent, buying food, or paying that bill. Sad, but true.

Don't even get me started on the other insult, that I'm gay and am not allowed on my partner's medical insurance. Another example of the "greatest country in the world."

[Ashley Penn]

07:46 AM on 02/01/2011

The bill can always be negotiated. Yeah, you have to jump through hoops, call the billing dept. blah blah blah. But in today's economy, the hospitals are happy to get SOMETHING, anything at all.

I've worked in the billing dept. of a health care facility (I'm now a patient case manager, since the billing was getting WAAAAAY too complicated, especially Medicare which doesn't pay for diddly.) You don't have to "destroy your credit." Talk to them. They're willing to work with you. And get an ITEMIZED statement, because sometimes, they screw you over.

When I had sciatica, they wanted to take an X-ray, but they wanted me to take a pregnancy test first. When I got my itemized bill, I saw they charged $600 for the pregnancy test, and I never even got the X-ray. I told them to take it off because they pestered me to agree to the frickin' test in order to get an X-ray that I never got.

Hospitals especially are trained to get as much money out of the system as they can. They'll manipulate diagnosis codes to get the greatest return. they'll bill all the items in kits separately, instead of as the kit as 1 unit. Trust me. There's probably a lot you can do about the bill.

But this expensive health insurance isn't the answer. Paying for insurance is usually more expensive than the bill, with premiums, deductibles, co-pays, co-insurance, etc.

[LawrenceL]

04:34 PM on 01/20/2011

I can't wait for the next descriptively-named-with-artistic-license bill from the GOP, such as

"The Destroy All Enemies 2013 Defense Budget," the "Discontinue Every Program That We Disagree With" Omnibus Bill, and finally, the "Kill Every American We Don't Like" Supplementary Law.

[DocStrangelove]

04:01 PM on 01/20/2011

Part 1 of 3;

THERE IS NO FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO GO WITHOUT INSURANCE;

Begging pardon, but rulings under both liberal and conservative jurisprudence, the Constitution protects individual autonomy strongly only when “fundamental rights” are involved, if I might be so bold as opine.

There indeed are certain fundamental rights to decide regarding medical treatments… but having insurance does not require anyone to undergo treatment. It only requires them to have a means to pay for any treatments in which they might choose to receive.

The “liberty” in question is purely economic & has none of the strong elements of personal or bodily integrity.

PEOPLE CAN CHOOSE TO GO WITHOUT INSURANCE;

If I might, they will just have to pay a small tax (or a “penalty tax” — a tax for failing to do something like filing one’s tax return promptly). which they would not have to pay at all if they purchased health insurance. The Senate Bill imposes what is called an “excise tax” — a tax on transactions or events — or a “penalty tax” — a tax for failing to do something.

The penalty is levied for each month that an individual fails to pay premiums into a qualified health plan.

[Jefferson78]

11:56 PM on 01/20/2011

Totally unConstiutional and very unAmerican.

[DocStrangelove]

10:02 AM on 01/21/2011

Yes.. your views are indeed that.. as are the teabaggers'.

[Ashley Penn]

07:54 AM on 02/01/2011

I already pay a tax. They take it out of my paycheck every other week. It goes to pay for Medicare and medicaid. You can't force someone to purchase something they can't afford, and then penalize them by charging them MORE money when they won't buy it. My husband and I refuse to be on Medicaid on principle. There are people out there worse off than we are. As long as we can get up and go to work, we're going to. We're trying to not pull out of the system when others need it more. But just because we're not taking out of the general fund doesn't mean we can afford whatever we like. And with insurance being over $300/month for the 2 of us, plus a deductible in the thousands, plus paying 50% co-insurance, not covering dental, or prescriptions, we're better off paying out of pocket. Doctors and hospitals usually have special rates for people like us. I work in healthcare. I ought to know. It's pretty much industry standard.

No government can force anyone to purchase anything they don't want or can't afford. Period.

[DocStrangelove]

04:00 PM on 01/20/2011

Part 2 of 3;

THERE ARE NO CONSTITUTIONAL BARRIERS TO THIS KIND OF INSURANCE MANDATE;

My grasp of the Legislative text leads me to opine that it would be Unconstitutional only if it literally would imprison the uninsured, i.e., if Congress enacted a law whose sole provision entailed a mandate for individuals to purchase a product, & violators of the law were automatically subject to incarceration, Constitutional concerns would be valid.

FEDERAL MANDATES HAVE BEEN COMMON;

All of us as members in enlightened, civilised nations live under mandates every day.

Criminal law tells us what we cannot do.. & sometimes what we must do.

The Congress can require young Americans to register for a draft to serve in the military, for example, or they can require a payment of taxes for programs such as Social Security, Medicare & now National Healthcare in general.

This is boilerplate precedent.

CONGRESS HAS POWER TO LEVEL INSURANCE MANDATES FOR THE GENERAL WELFARE;

In promoting the General Welfare the Constitution actually gives broad authority to Congress in that that it would make available a level of healthcare previously out of the reach of many compatriots, if I might say.

The words "General Welfare" show up in the first line of Article I, Section 8: "The Congress shall have power to lay & collect taxes, duties, imposts & excises, to pay the debts & provide for the common defense & GENERAL WELFARE of the United States but ALL DUTIES, IMPOSTS & EXCISES SHALL BE UNIFORM THROUGHOUT

[DocStrangelove]

04:00 PM on 01/20/2011

Part 3 of 3;

THE COMMERCE CLAUSE GIVES CONGRESS THE POWER TO MANDATE HEALTH INSURANCE;

If I may, Congress has ample power & precedent through the Constitution’s “Commerce Clause” to regulate virtually any aspect of the National Economy.

Health insurance is quintessentially an economic good, &, to be honest, a moral imperative. The only possible objection is that mandating its purchase is not the same as “regulating” its purchase, but a mandate is just a stronger form of regulation. When Congressional power exists, nothing in law says that stronger actions are less supported than weaker ones.

Besides, those who opt to remain uninsured would have a substantially negative effect on interstate commerce… primarily by shrinking the risk pool of insured & increasing the premiums all else.

The choice whether to purchase or not purchase health insurance is an economic decision & constitutes economic activity. If one decides to buy or not buy something, that is without doubt, economic activity.

[seanj]

02:39 PM on 01/20/2011

Federal law only supersedes state law if the federal law is constitutional. The states never gave the feds the power to make you buy commerce.

[infopro]

02:51 PM on 01/20/2011

However this is still irrelevant for the nonce b/c it's up in the air. Only one judge has declared it unconst, & he's known for being a conservative activist. His ruling means nothing unless/until it's upheld on appeal. And a minimum of two *other* federal judges have held that the provision IS constitutional, one who (like the naysayer) is *also* in VA.

IOW, any/all layman claims that "it's unconstitutional!" are worth precisely zipski until the case has completely run its course through the courts, & there's an excellent chance they won't mean jack then either.

[seanj]

03:00 PM on 01/20/2011

35 states can overturn. THey got 26 already.

[seegray]

02:53 PM on 01/20/2011

"...to make you buy commerce"?

Huh?

[LWhee1961]

02:39 PM on 01/20/2011

GOP=Hypocrisy

[Chairman Miaow]

03:06 PM on 01/20/2011

So then:

DEM=Don't mind the corporations controlling everything from behind the curtain

Got it.

[keramos]

07:53 PM on 01/20/2011

You are correct in that there are Ds that are complicit in this and they too need to be put out into the streets.  But it's winter in DC so we should be considerate of the need for them to maintain body warmth.  Several here have suggested tar and feathers.  These are both great insulating materials and arrangements should be made post haste.