Why the Healthcare Reform Bill of 2009 Did Not Pass

Author-Jeremy Taylor Lewis, submitted by Michele Carter-Graham

Now that it appears that the current Healthcare Reform bill is not going to be passed by Congress, it is time to take a step back, and re-evaluate the healthcare situation in America. And while we’re at it let’s look for a positive real world solution to the problem.

Many political pundits agree that the recent Healthcare Reform bill became a political bill more than a Healthcare Reform bill. Looking at the process which took place just to get the bill passed by each house of congress has to make any sane person scratch their head.

The purely political issues that helped turn the American public against the bill include:

– The fact that members of congress did not even know what was in the 2000 page bill, but stated that they would vote for it anyway.
– The amount of bribes (Let’s be clear, that is exactly what they were) handed out to obtain the votes in the Senate
– The number of exceptions to the regulations to appease constituent groups (union negotiated healthcare plans from the ‘Cadillac’ plans tax, for example)
– The fact that Republicans were not permitted to take part in most of the essential debates formulating the bills.
– The fact that the White house and the Senate refused C-SPAN’s request to televise the conference committee hearings
– The number of constitutional challenges that were lining up if the bill had been passed
– Language in the bill requiring Federal dollars for abortion (in the House version of the bill)

The more information that the public found out about the Healthcare reform bill the more that opposition grew against the Healthcare reform bill. This sentiment culminated in the special election for the Senate seat in Massachusetts, when the Republican candidate, won in a major upset in a traditionally Democrat state. The experts mostly agree this was a statement against the whole Healthcare reform effort. Most polls indicated that in mid-January the opposition to the bill was around 55-60% of those polled. It should be noted that 15-18% of those polled opposed the bill because it did not go far enough toward the goal of a single payer system, favored by the Liberals. In the final analysis, it was as much the process of the way the bill was rushed through the Congress as is was the actual content of the bill, which derailed the Healthcare Reform bill of 2009.

There were major flaws in substance of the Healthcare Reform bill that also helped seal its demise. People who actually followed the bill and understood what it actually contained were opposed to the bill for a variety of reasons.

Critics on the left would not support the bill because it did not:

– Have a single payer system (Senate version)
– Provide funds for abortion (Senate version)

Critics on the right refused to support the bill because it:

– Forced people to buy insurance
– Provided funds for abortions (House version)

The major flaw in the Healthcare Reform bill of 2009 was that it actually did very little to reform healthcare in the U.S. Most people will agree that the major problem with the healthcare system in America is the constantly rising cost of healthcare. The Healthcare reform bill did very little to control costs, or to create a more efficient delivery system, all it did was to try to change who paid for healthcare. The main goal of the Healthcare reform bill was to tax wealthy individuals or companies to pay for healthcare for those who want more healthcare than they can afford, and to direct who can make the decision on the level of healthcare each person needed.