Republicans Plan to Halt Health Insurance Bill – The Fight is On
Posted in Health Care , Health Insurance
January 5th, 2010
Ever since the Democrat-led Senate passed the historic health care overhaul on Christmas Eve, Senate Republicans have vowed to halt the bill before it makes it to President Obama’s desk. According to the Senators, the American people are displeased with the bill and want to make sure it comes to a halt before it is signed into law.
Republicans Plea for Change During Recess
The senators are all preparing to leave Washington for winter recess; however, many say that they want their counterparts to use this time to build up opposition in their respective states against the overhaul. They believe they will already hear a mouthful from residents when they get home.
Their hope is that they will be able to build up enough support to halt the overhaul as it makes its way to the House of Representatives.
Why Republicans Hate the Health Care Overall
One main reason that Republicans are so strongly opposed to the health care overhaul is that they don’t want government-run insurance. Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, has been quoted as calling the bill a “monstrosity” and even addressed Obama directly by stating, “I want to assure you, Mr. President, this fight isn’t over.”
In their effort to stall the bill, Republicans were able to force Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid – who wanted to assign conferees to meet with House negotiators on a compromise between the two versions of the bill and begin negotiations as early as next week – to halt this process by saying they would object to the appointment during holiday recess.
The Fight is On
It seems that there is going to be a bit of a tug of war between the two parties as they fight through Congress to get a bill passed. Democrats plan to get around Republican objections by “ping-ponging” the bill, which means the Senate would ping the bill over to the House and have it make changes and then the House would pong it back over to Senate for another round.
With all of the in-house fighting among Congressional leaders, the American public can only sit by and watch desperately hoping that their health care costs don’t continue to rise. And if they do as they have (see story: Expect New Health Care Cost Trends), the bill will pass in time to offer affordable health care coverage options to everyone.
How do you feel about the health care battle between Democrats and Republicans?