Health Reform Takes Step Forward in Senate

An $871 billion health reform bill moved a step closer to passage in the Senate early this morning.

Senators voted 60-40 to hold off a Republican filibuster of the bill. The vote was a procedural one and the first of three this week. Fifty-eight Democrats and two Independents voted for it while all Republicans voted against it. The final vote is expected Christmas Eve.

If approved, the legislation will be merged with a House bill after the first of the year, bringing President Obama's massive health reform a step closer to reality.

The Senate bill has billions of dollars in taxes that will be imposed on insurance companies such as UnitedHealth Group Inc., medical device makers like Medtronic Inc. and drug companies such as Pfizer Inc. The insurers have vowed to pass their tax increases on to customers.

Small businesses, in particular, are concerned about the insurer tax because they feel they'll receive the brunt of the cost. The legislation also requires businesses with more than 50 employees to provide health coverage or pay a penalty to the government. Most Americans will be required to carry health insurance.

The bill also creates health insurance exchanges for individuals and small businesses to find coverage.

The measure would cover 31 million uninsured Americans, according to the Congressional Budget Office. It includes insurance market reforms, including provisions that people can't be denied insurance because of pre-existing conditions.

The insurance industry offered to voluntarily make changes as long as all Americans were required to buy health insurance. The insurers' biggest lobbying group, America's Health Insurance Plans, has been largely critical of every Democratic plan for health reform this year.

In a statement last night, Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans, said the Senate bill doesn't do enough to curb health care spending. The insurance companies have said throughout the debate that they simply pass on medical costs and deny they are the cause of soaring health premiums.

“The debate before the country is not whether insurance market reforms are needed. They are," Ignagni says. "The debate is not about whether all Americans should have health care coverage. They should. The debate is about whether the current legislation can work, bend the cost curve, and be sustained."

The Senate worked throughout the weekend. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wasn't able to secure the 60th vote until Saturday when Nebraska Democratic Senator Ben Nelson relented and agreed to support it if some compromise language on abortion was included in the bill. Nelson earlier this month offered an amendment that restricted abortion coverage for any woman receiving a government health care subsidy. That measure was defeated and Nelson withheld his support for the reform plan until this weekend.