Democratic leaders overcame a massive abortion controversy and approved Obamacare with a 219-212 vote.
” In a democracy you can only defy the will of the people for so long and get away with it,”
- R-Ohio Congressman Boehner
Both sides battled in out on the floor citing concerns for and against the Obamcare bill. Democrats believe that the new legislation will create thousands of jobs and save $1.2 Trillion.
“Being a woman will no longer be a pre-existing medical condition,”
-D. Speaker of the House N. Pelosi
Under the new Obamacare plan Americans will be required to buy in to some form of healthcare. Democrats state this is necessary because under the new program insurance companies can not deny coverage due to a pre-existing condition, and they fear some may wait to buy into health care until they were actually sick. Under the Obamacare anyone not buying into their own insurance program would face a $695 fine. The CBO claims the bill will reduce the deficit by $143 billion over the first ten years.
The bill is set to allow families between 100-400% of the federal poverty level FPL to be eligible for subsidies if they would like to purchase their own insurance, meaning there would be a cap on how much they would have to contribute.
Under this new bill the program is set to expand to Medicaid to cover adults without children starting in 2014 and will expand to include families up to 133% of the FPL. It is also rumored that the Medicaid would no longer cover ineligible non-citizens (illegal aliens), and they would still not be able to buy in even if they were paying with their own funds.
Although the bill passed it still has to be signed at the Presidents desk before be enacted into law, but if approved would expand coverage to 32 million Americans. (so says the Congressional Budget Office). There is some speculation that congress will have to revisit the bill to remove “special deals” before landing on the President’s desk, but this move may allow Republicans the opportunity to effectively kill the bill.
