With barely 60 votes in favor of a measure that would allow for debate to start, Democratic senators moved health care reform past its first major hurdle Saturday night, with a party-line, 60-to-39 vote to begin consideration of the 2,000-plus page bill that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled this week.
The fate of the measure came down to two moderate Democrats -- Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. Both women had withheld their support for debating the bill until the last hour, but announced in the afternoon that they would vote with Reid -- at least for now.
Surely these two last holdouts were milking it for all it was worth, of the two, it was reported that Ms. Landrieu was able to obtain 100 million dollars for her district because of the hurricane Katrina damage done entitled her state to those funds.
Furthermore, neither one of these two assured that they would actually vote in favor of the Health Care bill once it came to a final vote; this was just permission by them to proceed with debate.
Ms. Landrieau did not attend a free clinic they had in New Orleans last week, as if by her absence she could do like the ostrich and just stick her head in the sand to ignore the needs of her constituents.
Ms. Lincoln is doing the same in Arkansas when the free clinic is held today. It is as if it makes no difference what the needs and wishes of the people are.
Good luck to all of them, Health Care reform is not going to pass with any significant measure that would put insurance companies in the defensive and actually bring competition. As it stands is nothing but a sweetheart deal for Insurance and Pharmaceuticals, even though they continue to pour millions of dollars to stop any kind of legislation with the Republicans right behind it.
I really feel sorry for America at this point. In a couple of years, we are going to see the adverse effects of not having passed effective legislation to fix the Health Care crisis. The emboldened Insurance companies will find their way around this new piece of legislation and take advantage of any loop holes such as the one that permits the Insurance Companies to sell policies across state lines. This will assure them that they can set up house in one of the less regulated states and get away with all kinds of shit.
But when forty of fifty million more Americans are left without insurance and they continue to deny coverage or pay for certain conditions, a lot of them, even those very tea baggers who are now spewing their frustration and hatred against Obama, will find themselves in bankruptcy once their hospital bills arrive and the insurance companies deny them payment.
These same people, will have relatives and friends and then and only then when more than half the population is affected negatively by the voracious appetite for profits of the Insurance Companies, we will have a Universal, all inclusive, fair and effective Health Care System like the rest of the civilized nations.
SOURCE: http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/11/21/senate-votes-to-bring-health-care-reform-bill-to-floor/
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