Historic Vote

Many progressives may wish it contained a public option and less pandering to insurance companies, but most people—even opponents—can’t dispute the health care reform bill passed by the U.S. Senate is truly groundbreaking legislation.

Perhaps the most historic aspect surrounding the bill is that Senate Democrats were able to overcome vicious and desperate right-wing attacks based on distortions or downright falsehoods and actually pass a bill of such magnitude.

Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice presidential candidate, defined the right-wing static when she posted this on Facebook: “The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

The health care legislation now under consideration does not create death panels or anything like them and Palin’s statement was later voted the biggest political lie of the year by Politifact.com. Her comments show just how far the right-wing will go to prevent health care reform.

But the Democrats were able to cut through the noise and get a bill passed. So it’s a time to recognize what’s good in the U.S. Senate bill and hope the final legislation—the bill must be reconciled with the House bill passed earlier—will be even better.

Here are some positive outcomes the bill would produce:

An additional 30 million Americans would be ensured by 2014.

insurance companies could no longer drop coverage for preexisting conditions.

Medical coverage would be expanded to low-income people.

insurance companies would have to pay more for actual medical costs by reducing their overhead.

The deficit would be reduced and health costs should go down.

Some progressive have argued that bill panders to insurance companies because they will benefit from getting more customers, some of whom will buy their insurance using federal subsidies. They also wanted some type of nonprofit public option that would compete against private insurers. I share these concerns. Yet the insurance industry has fought against reform efforts ostensibly because of the added regulations, which shows the legislation does have some teeth. A final bill, once passed, could also be adjusted down the road.

President Barack Obama sent out a public email about the “historic” legislation shortly after the bill passed. Here’s a portion of the email:

Although it's Christmas Eve, I wanted to share some exciting news: The Senate just passed a historic health reform bill.

In all the back and forth, it's easy to lose sight of what this incredible breakthrough really means. But consider this: This Christmas, there are millions of Americans without health insurance who risk losing everything if they get sick.

There are mothers and fathers who wonder how they'll provide for their children because an illness has wiped out their savings. There are small business owners who worry that they'll have to lay off a long-time employee because the cost of insurance is rapidly rising.

If we finish the job, all this can change. We will have beaten back the special interests who have for so long perpetuated the status quo. We will have enacted the most important piece of social policy since the Social Security Act in the 1930s, and the most important health reform since Medicare in the 1960s.

In Oklahoma, of course, the right-wing bastion was out in full force voicing their displeasure with the bill.

The Oklahoman editorial page, of course, criticized the bill without mentioning the state’s massive problems when it comes to medical outcomes. It also never mentioned how health care reform can specifically help Oklahoma.

According to Healthreform.gov, thousands of Oklahomans would benefit from reform efforts. In Oklahoma, according to the Healthreform.gov site:

639,000 residents who do not currently have insurance and 142,000 residents who have nongroup insurance could get affordable coverage through the health insurance exchange.

319,000 residents could qualify for premium tax credits to help them purchase health coverage.

575,000 seniors would receive free preventive services.

102,000 seniors would have their brand-name drug costs in the Medicare Part D “doughnut hole” halved.

45,600 small businesses could be helped by a small business tax credit to make premiums more affordable.

But The Oklahoman editorial page doesn’t want to engage with this type of information.

Meanwhile, three Republican legislators floated a legislative proposal that would allow Oklahoma to opt out on any reform plan.

It’s unlikely the state can legally ignore a federal mandate and a final bill hasn’t even been passed, but that’s not stopping the right-wing here from participating in typical partisan politics.