House passes Obama Care

With a vote of 220 to 215, Nancy Pelosi’s Democratically controlled House of Representatives narrowly passed President Obama’s Health Care Reform measure despite a nearly unanimous Republican opposition. Political observers note that the narrow victory can be directly tied to an effort by conservatives from both parties to include restrictions on federally funded abortions within the bill. Adding these restrictions provided several of the more conservative Democrats with a perceived political safety net, thereby earning enough of their votes to pass the legislation.

Even with the passage by the House, the Senate is not expected to vote on the bill before the end of the year. With that said, President Obama reportedly did not waste time and released a written statement in which he said “…now the United States Senate must follow suit and pass its version of the legislation. I am absolutely confident it will.”

Additional Details:

The House version of President Obama’s Health Care Reform legislation is approximately 1,990 pages

219 Democrats voted for the bill, as well as 1 first-term Republican (Rep. Joseph Cao)

176 Republicans & 39 Democrats voted against the bill

If passed in the House version:
• The estimated cost is approximately $1.2 Trillion
• The bill is projected to extend coverage to 36 million
• Medicare would be cut by more than $400 Billion over 10 years.
• A tax surcharge of 5.4% will be imposed on individual earning $500,000+ & families earning $1+ Million

A Republican drafted alternative was rejected with a vote of 258 to 176

On Thursday, President Obama stating the AMA & AARP had officially endorsed the legislation.  According to reports, the AMA’s trustees made the endorsement without the formal approval of the AMA’s House of Delegates. On Monday a resolution is expected to be voted on, which if passed, would remove the AMA’s endorsement.

Source: Fox News, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News

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