It's anybody's call what's going to happen in Washington, D.C. this weekend. President Obama is spending his time making final pleas for health care reform, and our elected officials are going to be spending this weekend working on multiple health care votes. So, it's business as usual.
Pushing toward a Sunday health care vote that could transform the nation's health-insurance system, House leaders announced a $940 billion compromise Thursday that would extend coverage to the vast majority of Americans, cut billions of dollars from Medicare, and impose new taxes on the wealthy and the well-insured.
Here's some of what the health care votes will be about. Feel free to correct me -- researching health care votes and bills is difficult.
- Every American will be required to have health insurance under penalty of law. All businesses will be required to offer health insurance to their employees unless they fall into a category of "small businesses" which is loosely defined by profits/number of employees. If a business owner does not offer health care, the government will penalize him or her.
- People who are unemployed will need to purchase from a "health care pool." Nobody seems to understand exactly what this means...
- Health insurance companies will not be able to deny applicants coverage because of pre-existing conditions. (But if you have cancer, your premiums will be astronomically expensive.)
- People will be able to purchase health insurance in any state, with the intent of promoting a free market. (This will likely cause insurance companies to move their "headquarters" to a tax-haven state.)
- Medicare and Medicaid will be expanded and cut in various places. It's very complex.
- No tort reform is included in the health care votes.
- The health care reform bills are supposed to reduce the deficit somehow.
If you're keeping score, or you're interested in health care votes, watch C-SPAN this weekend. It's sure to be interesting.
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