Senate moves forward on health insurance reform 60-39

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is to be congratulated for holding the Senate’s Democrats together to achieve the necessary 60 votes to bring the Senate version of health insurance reform to the Senate floor for debate. I thought his speech rallying the Democratic Senators to stick together was very well done.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stuck to the Republican talking points urging just one Democrat to rebel and vote no. It costs too much ($2.5 Trillion he said), will cause a rise in cost of insurance premiums and will weaken Medicare and endanger senior citizens. Not once did he mention that 46,000 Americans die each month because of their inability to afford health insurance under the present system.

As expected, Nevada Senator John Ensign voted against the motion.

The speeches of Senator Reid and Senator McConnell revealed the sharp contrast between the Democratic and Republican Parties. It is all about people in the Democratic Party’s view. It is all about money in the Republican view.

The New York Times compares the House Public Plan versions of health care reform as being a “new government plan to compete with private insurers.” The Senate’s Public Plan would create a “new government plan to compete with private insurers but wo0uld allow states to opt out.”

It remains to be seen just how good the Senate bill will turn out to be after reconciliation of the House and Senate versions. Whatever it is, the legislation is historic and will affect the lives of my grand children all their lives. It is a step of significance as fundamental as Social Security and Medicare.

Elections do have consequences. None of this would have been possible had the Republicans won the national elections of 2006 and 2008. Nor would it have been possible without the election of President Barack Obama.

The Republican Party has been floundering badly during the last two election cycles. The waves of history seem to elude their cognition. I personally think that having competing political parties provides a better chance of achieving good policies and laws. However, that requires thoughtful competing ideas from each party. The Republican Party has been pursuing a path of retaining the status quo. History has always been an evolutionary process of change. The Republican theories of government fail to recognize that clinging to a status quo policy cannot compete with progressive change.

Those of us who live far away from Washington D.C. need to always remember that each election cycle is important and that the consequences of how we vote and who we put into public office is a direct result of our vote. The next question for us is whether we will permit Nevada to opt out of the Public Plan. It is the stuff of Republics.

Related posts:

1. Health Care Reform Bill expected in August
2. Senate adjourns without approving unemployment and health insurance benefits extension
3. Push back on attacks for health insurance reform
4. Insurance industry running Senate’s markup
5. Resurrection of Health Care Reform