The 111^th Congress and Health Care Reform

Extract

President Obama has made health care reform his domestic legislative priority. He has asked the Congress to pass legislation that would extend health insurance coverage to the uninsured and underinsured, and enhance coverage for Medicaid and children's health care. In his request to Congress, he also asked that the costs necessary to pay for the universal coverage be borne by savings in current health care programs expenditures, and where and if appropriate, by raising revenues.

The process began in earnest in the late spring with all five committees of jurisdiction holding hearings. Those Committees were in the Senate: The Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) which was chaired by the late Senator Kennedy, and The Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Senator Bacaus. In the U. S. House of Representatives the three committees were: the House Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Mr. Rangel of New York; the Subcommittee in Health, chaired by Mr. Stark of California; the Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Mr. Waxman of California and the Committee on Education and Labor, chaired by Mr. Miller, also of California. By the middle of the summer of 2009 and before the August recess, four of the five committees had acted on legislation to be reported to the full Senate and full House of Representatives, respectfully.

In the Senate, the HELP Committee reported a health care reform bill to the full Senate that would require everyone to have health insurance, have a public program established for those who…