House Passes Health Care Reform; What’s Next in Congress
ANA wants to make sure you have the latest information on what is happening in Washington, DC! Where is the health care reform debate going? What has happened the last few weeks? We hope many of your questions concerning health care reform are answered here!
Status of Health Care Reform in the U.S. House of Representatives:
There are three House committees that have jurisdiction over Health Care reform: the Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means and Education and Labor Committees. All three Committees came together to create and release a discussion draft in early June. Each of the three committees immediately held independent hearings on the draft (ANA testified before two of the three –Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means). Following these hearings, formal Legislation, “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009” (H.R. 3200) was introduced on July 14th.
In July, each of the three committees considered portions of H.R. 3200 that fell within their jurisdiction, made amendments (aka “marked-up”), and successfully voted, largely along party lines, to move the bill out of committee. Over the course of several months, the pieces of the bill that each committee considered and amended were reintegrated back into one comprehensive piece of legislation. The bill was given a new number (H.R.3692) and was released on October 29th.
On November 7, the House of Representatives passed the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962). The bill passed by a vote of 220-215 with 39 Democrats voting in opposition and one Republican, Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao of Louisiana, voting in favor. Click here to see how your Member of Congress voted!
Status of Health Care Reform in the Senate:
There are two Senate committees that have jurisdiction over health care reform: the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and the Finance Committee. Unlike in the House, the two Senate committees have each moved forward with their own versions of health care reform legislation based on what portions of reform are within each committee’s jurisdiction.
The HELP Committee released language for its draft, the “Affordable Health Choices Act” (S. 1679) on June 9th, and considered amendments to the bill over the course of 11 days in June. After approving 36 Democratic amendments and 161 Republican amendments, the bill was approved by the committee with a party-line vote on July 15th.
After several months of ongoing, bipartisan, closed-door negotiations, the Finance Committee released its health care reform proposal “America’s Healthy Future Act” (S.1796) on September 16, and began consideration of 564 amendments on September 22nd. The committee completed consideration of amendments on October 2nd, and the bill was approved with the support of all committee Democrats and one Republican – Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine—on October 13th.
What’s Next
The HELP and Finance committee bills must be combined. Once the combined final Senate bill is released, it will need to come before the full Senate for a vote. While there is no firm timeline, such a vote could take place before Thanksgiving.
Michelle Artz
Tags: Finance Committee, health care reform, HELP Committee, October 2009
