Year in Review - Healthcare Reform 2009

Jim Brown - OneNewsNow - 12/31/2009 2:00:00 PM

The effort by the White House and congressional Democrats to pass healthcare legislation in 2009 was marred by broken promises, waffling lawmakers, and a skeptical public.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and other Democratic leaders held a press conference in May at the White House with President Barack Obama, and promised to pass a comprehensive healthcare reform bill by July 31.  Pelosi said the deadline was "cause for celebration for the American people."
 
"Our goal is to have a healthier America," said the Speaker. "Our legislation will be on the floor by the end of July, I am quite certain."
 
President Obama said by setting the goal of passing the House bill before their August recess, Democratic leaders were showing the "urgency and determination" necessary to achieve historic legislation.
 
"We've got to get it done this year. We've got to get it done this year -- both in the House in Senate," the president emphasized, "and we don't have any excuses. The stars are aligned."
 
That vow by Democratic leaders to pass healthcare reform before August was ultimately broken after the American public expressed widespread opposition to the bill.  Grassroots activists and senior citizens at town hall meetings and Tea Party rallies passionately expressed their concerns about a government takeover of healthcare. Some Democratic members of Congress who supported the bill were even booed and heckled at those local gatherings while trying to justify the legislation.
 
In September, hundreds of thousands of Americans gathered on Capitol Hill to protest the healthcare bill at an event dubbed the 9-12 March on Washington.
 
Despite minimal public support for their bill, House Democrats eventually succeeded in passing their version of healthcare reform (220-215) on November 8, with the support of only one Republican lawmaker.
 
Republicans warned the bill would lead to a government takeover of healthcare, fewer American jobs, higher insurance premiums, and rationed care.  If there was any silver lining for conservatives, it was a pro-life amendment sponsored by Blue Dog Democrat Bart Stupak (Michigan) that was attached to the bill.  The Stupak amendment, which would bar taxpayer funding of abortion under the government health insurance option, won the support of 64 Democrats in the House.
 
A month later in the Senate, Democratic leaders were scrambling to find unity in their caucus on a bill that could attract the 60 votes needed to pass before Christmas break.
 
After realizing he would not be able to obtain enough votes to pass a bill before Christmas that included a public health insurance option, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) devised a so-called "Medicare buy-in" compromise.  The plan would have allowed Americans 55 and older to buy in to Medicare, but the idea ran into opposition from key senators, including Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska) and Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut).
 
"The so-called 'public option' government-run insurance program is out, and the Medicare 'buy-in' -- which I thought would jeopardize Medicare, cost taxpayers billions of dollars over the long haul, [and] increase our deficit -- is out," Lieberman reported at that time.
 
Even though the public option and the Medicare "buy-in" were not included in the Senate bill, critics warned that the bill still contained huge problems. One of those conservative critics was Grace-Marie Turner, president of the Galen Institute and a former healthcare policy adviser to the John McCain campaign.
 
"It still is going to increase healthcare costs for not only the federal government, but for the average American family," Turner stated. "It's going to put huge new requirements on businesses to go through an amazing number of hoops and hurdles [and] regulatory requirements, [and impose] new fines and penalties on businesses.
 
"On individuals, they're not only going to be required to buy this expensive new government health insurance, but they're going to be fined on their taxes if they don't -- and in the House bill, they can be thrown in jail," she added.
 
Turner noted that in addition to taxpayer funding of abortion, the bill also includes half-a-trillion dollars in new taxes on businesses and individuals, and half a trillion in cuts to the Medicare program.
 
However, that did not stop one-time holdouts Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson from joining with 58 Democrats in voting to approve the bill early Christmas Eve morning.
 
The House and Senate bills must now be reconciled in Conference Committee, which will produce a measure that will be voted on in both chambers before it is sent to President Obama for his signature. Democratic leaders and the White House are hoping that bill will be on the president's desk before his 2010 State of the Union address.

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