The Senate may have voted to move toward the final debate on health care reform legislation recently, but there are still huge obstacles in the road to final passage.
Note that both Independents in the Senate, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, were needed by the Democrats to open the floor to debate. Certainly, all eyes will be on these two senators as the debate unfolds this month. Sen. Lieberman has stated that he won’t support reform if it includes a “public option” to allow the government to compete with private insurance firms in the insurance marketplace. Sen. Sanders has stated he won’t support reform without a “public option”. So the Democrats are stretched thin to meet the 60 votes required for passage.
As it now stands, the Senate bill is 2,074 pages long. It would cost American taxpayers (your children and grandchildren) $849 billion over 10 years. It supposedly will extend insurance coverage to an additional 31 million people through a “public option” and a mandate to require everyone to carry insurance. There will be a tax imposed on higher option “Cadillac” plans. And a new source of funding will raise Medicare taxes on every individual from 1.45 percent to 1.95 percent, which is usually deducted from our paychecks.
In addition to the two independent senators previously mentioned, three other moderate Democratic senators will be getting heavy lobbying: Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Sen. Mary Landreau of Louisiana. The Democrats will need all of their votes to ensure final passage, yet each moderate Democrat must be sensitive to the business interests in their respective states.
Let the debate begin.