HealthReform votes to wait until the Fall

you may have received this from David Roberts...

Jady Montgomery

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Roberts, David" <droberts@himss.org>

Date: July 23, 2009 2:25:56 PM PDT

Subject: Grassroots OFA CD 50 Health Policy Update - Thursday, July 23, 2009

All - Senate Democratic leaders today made it official that health reform will have to wait until the fall to be considered by the Senate.  Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Democratic Conference Vice Chairman Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Conference Secretary Patty Murray (D-WA) told reporters they decided Wednesday night to put off a Senate vote until after the chamber reconvenes after Labor Day on September 7.  The Senate leaders said they hoped to send legislation to President Obama by the end of the year. They originally had hoped to send a final bill to the president in mid-October.

In the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Thursday that she was open to putting a vote off in that chamber until after the August recess.  That would mean neither chamber would meet its original goal of completing work on a bill before the August recess. The House is scheduled to adjourn a week from Friday; the Senate is scheduled to remain in Washington for one additional week.

Reid said he had spoken directly with Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on the new deadlines.  He and other Senate leaders now hope to get a bill out of the Senate Finance Committee, merge it with legislation approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and get that combined bill to the Senate floor by the recess date. Schumer dismissed the idea that the bill would lose momentum over the August recess, citing public demand for some type of change.  "The whole goal has always been to have the president sign it by the end of the year," he said. "So the plan is going to be out there for a period of time, and it's going to have to stand the test of the public as well. I'm not worried. It should be out there, and maybe the plan is modified."
 

The Democratic leaders also tried a personal touch Thursday to  promote healthcare reform,  having two women tell their stories of health hardship to reporters.  

Kathy Devincentis of Washington, a retired hospice nurse from Delaware and a breast-cancer survivor, told reporters she had to struggle to get insurance for chemotherapy treatments and faced costs of $1,000 per month and a $5,000 deductible.  "We really need to change this," she said of the current health system.

Regina Holliday of Maryland, an art teacher whose 10-year-old son Freddy has autism, told of her husband's death last month from kidney cancer that went undiagnosed because they could not afford insurance.  "Would access to affordable health insurance have made a difference in our case? I think so," Holliday said. "If my husband could have seen a primary care doctor throughout the past 10 years, there would have been a very good chance his cancer could have been caught before it reached stage four."

"Those who oppose reform like to talk about it in the abstract — they use code words, scare tactics and sound bites," Reid said of the women's stories. "Reforming healthcare is about real people." 

 

Our work must continue more than ever if we are to reform healthcare this year!  Dave

 

David W. Roberts

Grassroots OFA CD 50 Health Policy Team Leader

 

Councilmember

City of Solana Beach

www.daveroberts.org

 Please encourage your neighbors, colleagues and friends to join our Grassroots Organizing for America (OFA) 50th Congressional District of  California Health Policy Team.  Receive updates and attend events focused on health policy.  All are welcome to join and participate.  To join, just e-mail Solana Beach Councilman and Health Policy Team Chair Dave Roberts at droberts@himss.org.