In an unusual Saturday session on November 7, the U.S. House of Representatives passed sweeping healthcare reform legislation by a narrow 220-215 margin. One Republican supported the bill, and a total of 39 Democrats voted to oppose it. Corporate media reporting about the legislation was an embarrassment even by big business standards, with little useful information offered for working people eager to assess the value -- or danger -- of this Congressional action. The Republican Congressional delegation and their allies pulled out all stops to create confusion and fear regarding the legislation. Their theatrics featured frequently bizarre and outlandish claims, all geared towards defending the current high-priced insurance-based system of healthcare.
In recent weeks the healthcare reform battle had shifted back to the House of Representatives from the Senate. Saturday's action will kick the issue back to the Senate. The Senate is expected to act sometime before the end of the year, and ultimately the two different bills will need to be combined by Congressional committees. It will likely be several months until any more definitive action will be taken.
It is important that our union do the necessary homework to determine just exactly what is -- and what is not -- included or absent from the current bill. For a set of measures to assess the value of the current bill, please refer to the UE General Executive Board statement on health care reform from May 15, 2009. This statement should be used as a yardstick to determine whether or not the legislation -- H.R. 3962 -- is worthy of our support. The Policy Action Committee resolution from the recent New Haven UE National Convention mandated this careful study of the healthcare legislation upon its passage.
Commenting on the passage of the House healthcare bill, UE General Secretary-Treasurer Bruce Klipple said, "Our union will be taking a close look at the massive legislation just passed. We will be comparing notes with our allies in the labor movement, on Capitol Hill, and among the healthcare reform movement to sort out the good, the bad, and the ugly of this bill. We continue to be very worried that the final costs to working people are too high to be described as "affordable" by any standard. We are going to be looking at how Congress thinks it will keep employers from exploiting this legislation to escape their responsibility to pay for coverages for their workforces. There are many other troubling aspects to this bill as well. UE will review the facts to determine if this bill merits our support -- or not. Our members have not labored for decades to win passage of real reform only to end up with a bill that would cost more, offer less security than what we currently have, and still fails to cover everyone. The content of this legislation will determine our views on it, not loyalty to those who passed it."