GOP Senator Votes With Democrats... Senate Committee Passes Bill
Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe Bucks Her Party, Says Health Care Is Too Important...GOP Leaders Had Demanded Snowe Vote 'No'...
Senate Finance Committee Approves Health Care Reform 14-9
Sixty-four years ago, President Harry Truman stood before a joint session of Congress and called on the body "to assure the right to adequate medical care and protection from the economic fears of sickness."
Forty-nine years later, President Bill Clinton made the same demand.
On Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. Congress moved closer to achieving that goal than it ever has. The hold-out Senate Finance Committee voted by a 14-9 margin to move the fifth and final health care reform proposal through the conservative panel.
The package, coming in at under $900 billion over ten years, is the least generous in terms of subsidies for working and middle-class Americans to purchase health insurance, and it does not include a national public health insurance option. But the bill would dramatically reorganize the nation's system of health care and health insurance and stands as the foundation on which Democrats hope to build a strong reform package with negligible GOP support.
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) was the lone Republican to support the package. "My vote today is my vote today. It doesn't forecast what my vote will be tomorrow," she said, although her vote does keep her at the negotiating table and at the center of the health care reform debate. Snowe risked marginalizing herself with a no vote. LinkHere
Forty-nine years later, President Bill Clinton made the same demand.
On Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. Congress moved closer to achieving that goal than it ever has. The hold-out Senate Finance Committee voted by a 14-9 margin to move the fifth and final health care reform proposal through the conservative panel.
The package, coming in at under $900 billion over ten years, is the least generous in terms of subsidies for working and middle-class Americans to purchase health insurance, and it does not include a national public health insurance option. But the bill would dramatically reorganize the nation's system of health care and health insurance and stands as the foundation on which Democrats hope to build a strong reform package with negligible GOP support.
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) was the lone Republican to support the package. "My vote today is my vote today. It doesn't forecast what my vote will be tomorrow," she said, although her vote does keep her at the negotiating table and at the center of the health care reform debate. Snowe risked marginalizing herself with a no vote. LinkHere
Leading Country of the Free World? I don't think so!!!!!!
YOU CAN HELP: Mother Who Went Blind To Save Her Children's Sight Struggling With Medical Debt
YOU CAN HELP: Mother Who Went Blind To Save Her Children's Sight Struggling With Medical Debt
"If you can help us in a small way we'd greatly appreciate that," Stein said, but also suggested that, as an alternative, readers could give their time and donations to free medical fairs that cater to the uninsured and under-insured across the country."
On September 28, HuffPost featured the story of Monique Zimmerman-Stein, a mother who shares a rare genetic disorder with her children that causes blindness. Though Zimmerman and her family have health insurance, they are still saddled by astronomical debt from medical bills, which has forced this mother to save her daughters' sight by sacrificing her own.
The St. Petersburg Times, which originally published the story, also posted a video of Zimmerman speaking out about her family's health care predicament and her daughters' future.
Many readers, touched by the Stein family's story, have asked for a way to help them. HuffPost Impact got in touch with Gary Stein, Monique Zimmerman-Stein's husband, a Hillsborough County health department employee, who reported that the family's medical bills have continued to amass. A few months ago, Stein had a heart attack scare and his daughter had a playground accident that sent her to the emergency room. After tests and scans came out clear, both hospital visits were deemed medically unnecessary and the family was charged additional co-pays, which have since gone into collection.
A few weeks ago, Zimmerman-Stein had a minor stroke, known as a TIA, possibly caused by stress. She suffered no lasting side effects... other than the bill for the three-day hospital stay, which so far is $5,000 -- after insurance -- and mounting.
Despite this, Stein says "we find, every day, a reason to be brave because our system is difficult. I have a family to support and we make tough decisions every day on how to move forward and how to be normal." Stein says they know they aren't the only ones struggling to remain hopeful in the face of mounting health care debt.
"It just wrenches your gut to think that we live in such a great country but people can't get the medical care they need and that they have to make decisions on what bills to pay, what things to forgo."
The Steins are acutely aware that their story is just one of hundreds of thousands, and Zimmerman-Stein is adamant in her belief that free clinics need to be supported and that our representatives need to be held accountable. "I don't care who you are, everyone in this world gets sick," she said. LinkHere
On September 28, HuffPost featured the story of Monique Zimmerman-Stein, a mother who shares a rare genetic disorder with her children that causes blindness. Though Zimmerman and her family have health insurance, they are still saddled by astronomical debt from medical bills, which has forced this mother to save her daughters' sight by sacrificing her own.
The St. Petersburg Times, which originally published the story, also posted a video of Zimmerman speaking out about her family's health care predicament and her daughters' future.
Many readers, touched by the Stein family's story, have asked for a way to help them. HuffPost Impact got in touch with Gary Stein, Monique Zimmerman-Stein's husband, a Hillsborough County health department employee, who reported that the family's medical bills have continued to amass. A few months ago, Stein had a heart attack scare and his daughter had a playground accident that sent her to the emergency room. After tests and scans came out clear, both hospital visits were deemed medically unnecessary and the family was charged additional co-pays, which have since gone into collection.
A few weeks ago, Zimmerman-Stein had a minor stroke, known as a TIA, possibly caused by stress. She suffered no lasting side effects... other than the bill for the three-day hospital stay, which so far is $5,000 -- after insurance -- and mounting.
Despite this, Stein says "we find, every day, a reason to be brave because our system is difficult. I have a family to support and we make tough decisions every day on how to move forward and how to be normal." Stein says they know they aren't the only ones struggling to remain hopeful in the face of mounting health care debt.
"It just wrenches your gut to think that we live in such a great country but people can't get the medical care they need and that they have to make decisions on what bills to pay, what things to forgo."
The Steins are acutely aware that their story is just one of hundreds of thousands, and Zimmerman-Stein is adamant in her belief that free clinics need to be supported and that our representatives need to be held accountable. "I don't care who you are, everyone in this world gets sick," she said. LinkHere
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 3:19 PM
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