President Obama’s proposed Health Care Reform Bill continues to make headlines. Every passing day seems to be a countdown with respect to the passage of the bill, which has given many sleepless nights to the US President, who sees it as a dream bill. Apart from the Republican votes, Democrat votes matter a lot here, especially of those who see loopholes in the health care reform bill.
To facilitate approval of the members of the Senate, President Obama has even postponed his scheduled Asia tour, hoping to get the bill passed in this session itself. He has been striving hard to get the approval, which seems to be delaying with every passing moment. With Republicans doing all they can to make the passage of the bill difficult, if not impossible, there is a handful of Democrats who are still undecided on this, but are under immense pressure from the President House, advocates of the bill, and political opponents.
The bill that has been drawing flak for over a year now seems to be experiencing birth pangs. Democrats led by President Obama want to enact milestone changes to health insurance, which is a great irritant for many Republicans, who smell a rat in this move.
The Medicare program, established 45 years ago, for the elderly was seen as historic that time. President Obama’s health care reform bill will be a supplement to the states covered by Medicaid.
Even as the Republicans keep fighting over the so-called issues in the reform bill, the small number of Democrats, who are even unknown to a large number of Americans, seem to be delaying the passage of the bill. Some of the irritants in the bill according to the anti-bill faction are:
· Abortion: The bill assumes a soft tone on abortion, which has irked many members of the House. Much to the anguish of the Republicans and a few of these Democrats, the state funding for abortion id the biggest issue obstructing the passage of the reform bill. In the words of Democrat Bart Stupak, "The basic issue remains: Whether our taxpayer funds will be used for abortion. If the language is not changed, I'm voting against it." However, the pro-bill Democrats rule out any change in the bill at least in this stage. Democrat Hoyer says, "We don't want to go without their votes, but we do want to forge ahead."
· Overall cost: a few other Democrats like Jim Cooper are worried about the overall cost of the bill, which he says will be a drain on the reform system itself. Apart from them, there are a few others like Jason Altmire consider the impact the proposal will have on deficits. However, he says, "I still have an open mind," if leaders try making the deliverance of health care cost-effective and efficient.
· There are a few other issues that seem to have annoyed the lawmakers. The Obama-proposed health care reform bill is primarily targeted at the poor Americans, to whom it provided for additional subsidies on purchasing health insurance.
Even House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi is vying to get the bill passed. She has been often founding stating, "It won't be long before we'll be making a real difference in the lives of the American people. It's going to be historic."
While Republicans are still unconvinced, Obama’s spokesman Robert Gibbs is hopeful to the extent that he says, “We do believe that, a week from today, we’ll be talking about a bill that has passed the House, not being considered by the House.”
Amid all the controversies, the health care reform bill stands tall, being the reason for debate among the Democrats and Republicans and even among the Democrats themselves. How soon does Robert Gibbs’s belief turns a reality is a million dollar question. Everybody is sitting with his fingers crossed on that!
