Senate Passes Reconciliation Bill: Now Heads Back to House

Following an hours long "vote-o-rama", Senate Democrats approved the health care reconciliation "fixes" bill by a vote of 56-43, with Republicans unanimously opposed. Republicans successfully challenged some provisions related to the higher education portions of the bill, and thus were struck out by the Senate parliamentarian. One struck provision would have prevented any annual decrease in the maximum amount of Pell grants for students from low-income families. Democrats indicated they would omit the disputed provisions and expressed overall happiness with the outcome of the debate because they were able to successfully hold back 40 Republican amendments.

The legislation nonetheless will advance through Congress and now heads back to the House for one final vote, which is expected to occur Thursday evening. Final approval from the House is needed, in this case, because changes were made to the reconciliation package they approved.

For more, click here for a New York Times article.

Obama Summit Follow-Up Reaches Out to GOP

In a follow-up letter to last week's health care summit, President Obama yesterday signaled to the Congressional Republican leadership that he is open to considering four GOP health reform ideas. Specifically, they are:

1. Sending undercover federal agents to physician practices that accept reimbursements from government health program to conduct investigations to combat fraud and abuse
2. Allocating $50 million to launch demonstrations of alternatives to resolving medical malpractice disputes, including health courts
3. Increasing Medicaid provider reimbursements in a fiscally responsible manner
4. Expanding the use of Health Savings Accounts (HSA) by offering high-deductible health plans in health insurance exchanges
   

Immediately, Senators Grassley (R-IA) and McConnell (R-KY) renounced the letter as merely a show. Mr. McConnell moreover warned Democrats that if they insist on jamming a comprehensive health reform, they would surely pay for it in this year's mid-term elections.

For more, click here for a story from the New York Times.
And, to read the President's letter, click here.

Senator-Elect Brown to be Sworn In Feb. 11th

The Hill reports that Senator-elect Scott Brown (R-MA) will be sworn-in to his US Senate seat Thursday, February 11th, giving Republicans 41 seats in the upper chamber.

Democrats, since the Massachusetts special election, have been scrambling to form a strategy for advancing their health reform legislation through Congress and eventually reaching President Obama's desk.

For more, click here.

GOP Releases Health Reform Bill

Today, House Republicans released a 230-page health reform bill that essentially is a substitute for the House Democratic bill released last week. The GOP bill includes principles such as:

• Establishing universal access programs to guarantee access to affordable health care for those with pre-existing conditions
• Ending junk lawsuits
• Prevent insurers from unjustly canceling a policy
• Encourage small business association health plans
• Encourage innovative state-level programs
• Allowing the purchase of insurance across state lines
• Promoting healthier lifestyles
• Enhancing Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)
• Allowing dependents to remain on their parents' policies until age 25

The executive summary of the bill can be found by clicking here.

The full text of bill can be found by clicking here here.

The NPR health blog story is here.

Coverage from the New York Times can be found here.