Obama Signs Historic Health Care Bill Into Law

President Barack Obama signed sweeping health care reform legislation into law Tuesday, capping a year long debate over the future of health insurance in the U.S.

"Today, after all the votes have been tallied, health insurance reform becomes law in the United States of America," Obama said before signing the bill.

Obama's remarks were met with numerous rounds of applause from the various members of Congress and reform advocates gathered in the White House's East Room.

The legislation, passed through the House late Sunday night with a 219-212 vote, was accompanied by a number of key amendments included in a reconciliation bill. The second bill will now go to the Senate, where the president expressed confidence that it will be addressed soon.

"While the Senate still has the last round of improvements to make on this historic legislation, these are improvements I'm sure they will make swiftly."

The president acknowledged that many in Congress took considerable risk by passing the bill.

"Yes we did," responded one individual in the crowd, an apparent play on Obama's signature motto from the campaign.

Democratic Health Bills Don't Offer Americans Enough Freedom To Choose, Say GOP'ers

By Chingyu Wang - Talk Radio News Service

Members of the GOP Solutions Group blasted the White House's health reform proposal during a conference call with reporters on Thursday.

"The new plan looks a lot like the old plan, and every time when they are talking about the old plan I think Democrats lost this debate," said Group Chairman Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.). "We'd like to see a plan that reduces costs, increases access and doesn't cripple the states."

Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), a physician himself, slammed a provision within both Democratic health bills that would require Americans to purchase health insurance. Price said the question of who should decide what kind of medical care individuals receive is one of the main factors dividing Republicans and Democrats on the issue of healthcare reform.

A proposal by the Republicans would allow Americans "To truly shop across state lines to purchase the insurance that you want for yourself or your family," said Price, adding that the Democrats' bills would allow the "government to dictate [your insurance policy] for you."

"Democrat solutions come down on the side of larger government [and] integrated bureaucracy." he argued.

Commission Could Resolve Health Care Workforce Woes

By TRNS/UNM Staff

“By 2020 there will be a shortage of up to 200,000 physicians and 1 million nurses” in the U.S., according a new report put out by the Center for American Progress. Advocates for the inclusion of a National Health Care Workforce Commission in the Congressional health care reform bill say that rural Americans are vulnerable to health care workforce shortages.

“Some expect the shortage to worsen as 78 million baby boomers begin to hit retirement in 2011,” according to the “Closing the Health Care Workforce Gap Report”. The 35-page document was submitted to members of Congress last month.

The Commission could affect thousands of New Mexicans by increasing the number of scholarships given to medical students, which will strengthen a deteriorating health care workforce nationwide.

“This is not a one-shot deal,” said commission supporter U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM). “We need an independent organization, a broad, well informed, independent organization that can make recommendations on an annual basis going forward.”

New Mexico has a high number of rural and minority communities. In 2008, there was a 350 to 1 ratio of patients to physicians in New Mexico, according to statehealthfacts.org.

“Data suggests that medical school applicants from underrepresented minority, rural and middle- or low-income families are more likely to practice in underserved areas from which they came,” according to the report.

Bingaman foresees opposition due to political pressure to reduce the cost of the health care reform bill. “We think it’s crucial that this remain in the final legislation,” he said.

The bill is expected to hit President Barack Obama’s desk before the upcoming State of the Union Address.

House Democrats Uncertain If Health Care Bill Will Reach Conference Committee

Leading House Democrats could not confirm Tuesday whether Congress will avoid reconciling the two legislative bodies’ health care reform legislation within a conference committee.

“We don’t even know yet if there’s going to be a conference,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) during a press conference Tuesday. “It’s not clear yet whether or not that’s going to happen.”

It has been rumored in recent days that Congress may seek to hold private negotiations with House and Senate leaders as an alternative to the conference, a possibility that critics charge will eliminate transparency.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) waved away such concerns.

“There has never been a more open process for any legislation in anyone who has served here’s experience,” the Speaker said.

Senate Democrats Accuse Republicans Of Stalling Health Care Reform

By Mariko Lamb-Talk Radio News Service

A number of Democratic Senators said during a press conference Wednesday that the Senate Finance Committee will have a bipartisan health care bill passed by the end of this year, but accused Republicans and health insurance companies of hindering the bill's progress.

“Republicans’ role in this is all about ‘slow down, stop, and no’... that’s what the Republican leadership has been all about,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH).

Republicans are implementing their “irresolution resolution,” said fellow HELP Committee member Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). “Despite all the stories of real Americans: their heartache, their frustration, their anger, ultimately even their disgust with the health care system they're trapped in, [Republicans continue to] turn the most desperate domestic policy crisis in our country into political theater.”

In response to recent town hall protests against health care reform, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (W.V) said these protests disrupt the message. “The story becomes the disruption, not the message,” he said. “We’re utterly, desperately serious about it and we’re trying to interpret it to the people we represent who in our states desperately need it. We’re precluded from doing so by these types of tactics.”

“We’re still struggling in the Finance Committee, and that’s okay, because one thing that I’m very certain about is that we’re going to have a health care bill...and we’re going to have it by the end of this year,” he added.