There’s a lot of wheeling and dealing taking place on Capitol Hill right now. Lobbyists for health insurance, hospitals, pharmaceuticals are all here to try and get the best deal for their industries. Consumers Union, our parent organization, is here working for what we believe is the best deal for consumers. And starting today, Consumer Reports Health is here too, reporting on the Senate and everywhere else in the capitol where the health reform bill is being shaped. Why did we come? Because we haven’t seen anyone else telling consumers what’s in it for them (and what’s getting left out) in health reform.
On the bright side: America is closer than its ever been to accomplishing health care reform. That’s significant. It means that those who can’t get coverage today because they are sick, may soon find relief. And those who can’t afford coverage may soon get help paying for it. People who have good insurance will gain the added security of knowing that insurance companies won’t be allowed to cancel it if they do get sick.
We’ve been covering this story for our entire 70-plus year history, and our most recent coverage has demonstrated that the health care system is broken and badly in need of reform. But health care reform is far from a done deal. Consumers Union supports the House bill, passed in early November, and our analysts see a lot to like in the Senate proposal—but they also know a lot can go wrong. "We’ve come a long way," says DeAnn Friedholm, Consumers Union’s healthcare reform campaign director. "Now the next few weeks will decide not only if we’ll get heath care reform, but if we’ll get the kind of reform we need."
The Senate mustered the 60 votes it needed to open debate on its version of the health reform bill, but it’s not certain to have 60 votes to close debate and bring the measure to a vote (at which point, because of the chamber’s arcane rules, the bill will need only 51 votes to pass). If the bill passes, it will go to a committee charged with “reconciling” the Senate version of the bill with the already-passed House bill. Then both houses of Congress have to vote on the final version of the bill again.
There’s a lot of action. Last week, one Republican Senator who is against reform reportedly sent out a memo advising like-minded lawmakers how to delay a vote on health care. And Senators from both parties continue to file amendments to the law that would make substantial changes to the way the health reform plan would work.
Just last week, we saw a number of amendments offering significant changes. One amendment, offered by a Democrat, would overrule the recommendations of the independent U.S. Preventive Services Task Force with decisions of the Department of Health and Human Services (it passed). Another amendment, from a Republican, would have effectively killed the bill by taking away the Medicare savings that reformers would use to fund the bill (it did not pass, but another amendment to keep the bill from reducing guaranteed Medicare benefits passed).
More amendments are expected to dominate the debate in coming weeks. Some will be serious and substantial, and some will be "message amendments" designed to change the subject. Still others will be poison pills from opponents hoping to kill health care reform outright.
We’ll continue to analyze what’s in the legislation for you now, and what the health care system might look like in the future. But we’ll also be reporting live from the scrub. Our goal is to bring you news on the latest amendments and debate on health care reform—and most importantly how it will affect you, the health care consumer.
—Kevin McCarthy, associate editor
Whether you’re for or against the reform under debate, feel free to join in the comments, and let us know what you think.
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