Having just posted the House Committee’s analysis of HR 3200 I went to Huffington Post to see what they are saying about it.
Here are some excerpts:
HR 3200, the House version of health care reform. The Senate’s H.E.L.P.’s subcommittee finished marking up its version of a health reform bill too. Only the Senate’s Finance Committee is not finished with its work, since its draft of reform legislation has yet to be introduced. Regardless, Obama wants bills to the floors of each chamber for a vote by the August recess. It looks like he will get his way with HR 3200; probably not with the Senate’s product.
Here is what the American Medical Association had to say:
“On behalf of the Board of Trustees of the American medical Association, I am writing to express our appreciation and support for H.R. 3200, the ‘America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009′. This legislation includes a broad range of provisions that are key to effective, comprehensive health system reform. We urge members of the House Education and Labor, Energy and Commerce, and Ways and Means Committees to favorably report H.R. 3200 for consideration by the full House.”
The largest grassroots effort in the country representing 30 million Americans, Healthcare For America Now, has come out to strongly support HR 3200 as well.
This comes on top of the pharmaceutical industry ponying up $80B to shore up the “donut hole” in Medicare’s prescription drug program (in return for being left alone in negotiating drug prices) and the nation’s hospitals willing to take about $155B less in government payments over the next decade in return for having all citizens insured.
But we’re not out of the woods yet. To all this consider that ads against health care reform are really getting nasty. But there is some consolation for the nastiness. HuffPo says “But the nastier the attacks against health care reform become, the more worried opponents become that finally our country will get sorely needed reforms.”
It is recommended we go take a look at the House Ways and Means Committee’s website for what Huffington Post says “This is the House Ways and Means Committee site where all sorts of materials and details of HR 3200 await the reader.”
Now, if the Senate would finally wake up and get with it. Still a long way to go and much opposition from the Republican Leadership lies ahead.
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