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<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN class=729490819-23112009>The vote to
allow Obamacare to be considered on the Senate floor is ominous for the
supporters of this legislation. Several moderate Democrats voted to allow
it to be debated but have indicated that they will not vote for it on final
passage unless significant changes are made in the bill.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN
class=729490819-23112009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN class=729490819-23112009>Still needing
60 votes to overcome a filibuster against the bill itself, there is almost no
chance that will happen unless the liberals make substantial concessions
on public funding of abortions and the so-called public
option.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN
class=729490819-23112009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN class=729490819-23112009>If the bill
does pass the Senate, it will go to a difficult conference committee
with the House. No one has any idea how those different bills can be
combined.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN
class=729490819-23112009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN class=729490819-23112009>If the
conference committee reaches a compromise, the House and Senate will have to
vote again and 60 votes would be needed to overcome a filibuster on the work
produce of the conference committee.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN
class=729490819-23112009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN class=729490819-23112009>A bill
which satisfies pro-lifers and jettisons the public option will almost
certainly be enacted into law--unless liberals make good on their threat to vote
against the conference committee report if it contains the Stupak-Pitts
language. In the end, I think liberals will realize that part of a loaf is
better than none.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN
class=729490819-23112009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN class=729490819-23112009>As noted in
this article, debate on this bill will likely continue well into
January.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN
class=729490819-23112009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=4><SPAN
class=729490819-23112009><STRONG>Art</STRONG></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><A
href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091123/pl_nm/us_usa_healthcare">http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091123/pl_nm/us_usa_healthcare</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<H1>Healthcare reform faces challenges in Senate</H1>
<DIV class=byline><CITE class=vcard>By Kevin Drawbaugh </CITE><ABBR
class=recenttimedate
title=2009-11-23T08:47:49-0800>1 hr 13 mins ago</ABBR>
</DIV><!-- end .byline -->
<DIV class="mod ad darla_ad" id=darla-ad__LREC> </DIV>
<DIV class="mod ad darla_ad">WASHINGTON (Reuters) – <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1258995039_0>President Barack Obama's U.S. healthcare overhaul</SPAN> plan
has cleared an important Senate hurdle but lawmakers warned on Sunday of
challenges ahead in winning support for passage, even among Obama's own
Democrats.</DIV>
<P>On Saturday, Senate Democrats gathered the 60 votes needed to open floor
debate on the plan, which would make the biggest changes in the $2.5 trillion
healthcare system in 40 years. It is the Obama administration's top <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258995039_1>domestic policy initiative</SPAN>.</P>
<P>No Republicans backed the procedural motion and a handful of <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258995039_2>conservative Democrats</SPAN>, whose votes
were crucial, supported the floor debate but remained uncommitted to the bill
itself.</P>
<P><FONT size=4>One of those was <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1258995039_3>Democratic Senator Ben Nelson</SPAN>, who said on Sunday that
he could not support the plan without big changes.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>"If there are a whole host of other items that are the same as
they are right now, I wouldn't vote to get it off the floor," Nelson said on the
ABC's "This Week" news program.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4><SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258995039_4>Independent Senator
Joseph Lieberman</SPAN>, usually an ally of the majority Democrats, said he
could not support the bill either if the "public option" -- for a government-run
<SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258995039_5>health insurance plan</SPAN> to
compete with private firms -- stays in the bill.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=5>"<U>I don't think anybody feels this bill ... will pass" as
written</U>, Lieberman said on NBC's "Meet the Press" program.</FONT></P>
<P>Debate will begin on November 30 and is expected to last at least three
weeks.</P>
<P>The "public option" component of the bill is negotiable, <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258995039_6>Senator Richard Durbin</SPAN>, the Senate's
No. 2 Democrat, said on NBC on Sunday, adding the Senate bill "must" get passed
by the end of 2009.</P>
<P>If it goes into 2010, with other issues such as <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1258995039_7>financial regulation</SPAN> reform and mid-term elections
vying for attention, "it gets more complex," he said. "We're anxious to get it
done."</P>
<P><FONT size=4>The <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258995039_8>House of
Representatives</SPAN> has passed its own version. Differences between Senate
and House versions would have to be reconciled in January before Obama could
sign a final measure.</FONT></P>
<P><SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258995039_9>Senate Democratic Leader Harry
Reid</SPAN> said it was wrong to link healthcare legislation and Monday's
controversial recommendation by an independent task force against routine
mammograms for women in their 40s.</P>
<P>"Republicans who deliberately conflate or confuse the two only confirm just
how desperate they are to distract the American people from the real debate --
and from the fact that they have no vision for fixing our broken <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258995039_10>health care system</SPAN>.</P>
<P>"There will be nothing in our bill to discourage or prohibit preventive
treatments -- quite the opposite, in fact. And as a result, our historic
reforms, like mammograms, will save lives," he said.</P>
<P>The Senate bill would expand coverage to millions of the uninsured and it
would bar insurers from denying coverage over <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1258995039_11>preexisting conditions</SPAN>. It also would require
virtually all Americans to buy insurance and set up exchanges to shop for
healthcare coverage.</P>
<P>'CADILLAC PLAN' TAX</P>
<P>While offering subsidies to help low-income workers afford coverage, the plan
also would raise the <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258995039_12>payroll
tax</SPAN> on high-income workers that finances the Medicare system that
provides for the elderly. It also would impose a tax on high-cost "Cadillac"
insurance plans.</P>
<P>Republicans have vowed to delay or block the bill, which they say is a costly
government intrusion in the private sector that would raise premiums, reduce
choices and increase taxes.
<P>"The bill is fundamentally flawed ... It puts big costs onto states," said
<SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258995039_13>Republican Senator Lamar
Alexander</SPAN> on the "<SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258995039_14>Fox News
Sunday</SPAN>" program. "If the American people know that, the bill will
collapse of its own weight."
<P>Pharmaceutical companies such as <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1258995039_15>Pfizer Inc</SPAN> and Merck & Co Inc and insurers such
as UnitedHealth Group Inc and <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1258995039_16>WellPoint Inc</SPAN>> are spending hundreds of millions
of dollars on lobbying to influence lawmakers' views on reshaping an industry
that fuels one-sixth of the economy.
<P>"The insurance industry is about the most highly concentrated industry in the
country," said <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258995039_17>Democratic Senator
Charles Schumer</SPAN> on CBS's "<SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258995039_18>Face
the Nation</SPAN>." "So you need to inject some competition into the insurance
industry.
<P>"The best way to do that is a public option. And the program that we've put
together is set up by the government but then it's on its own. There is no
intent for it to compete unfairly against private insurance," he said.
<P><SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258995039_19>Democratic Senator Sherrod
Brown</SPAN> said he would seek amendments that would allow the government to
negotiate prices for <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1258995039_20>Medicare
prescription drugs</SPAN> for the elderly, would permit reimportation of drugs
from low-cost countries<SPAN class=729490819-23112009>,</SPAN> and would seek to
cut brand-name biotechnology drug prices. (Reporting by Kevin Drawbaugh and
Nancy Waitz, editing by Bill Trott and Jackie Frank)</P></DIV></BODY>
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