Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon hosted a forum on healthcare yesterday in Lynnwood. Over 100 people attended the event, which was headlined by Mary McWilliams, Executive Director of the Puget Sound Health Alliance (PSHA).

The event emphasized the local nature and effect of healthcare policy, as opposed to similar events that have focused on federal policy reform implementation.

“We can’t wait for Congress to change the health-care system, we have to take control of local issues,” Reardon said. “There isn’t one organization that can fix the system. Companies, unions, employees and the medical community all have a role.”

McWilliams’s PSHA publishes a report titled Community Checkup annually. The Community Checkup is a report that provides information critical to evaluating the value and quality of medical care in our region.

Today the Senate Finance Committee voted 14-9 to approve the healthcare reform package proposed by Chairman Max Baucus. President Barack Obama spoke briefly about the bill and the current state of the healthcare policy reform debate.

“After many months of thoughtful deliberation, the fifth and final committee responsible for healthcare reform has passed a proposal that has both Democratic and republican support,” Obama said. “As a result of these efforts, we are now closer than ever before to passing health reform.”

A few minutes ago Senator Maria Cantwell released the following:

The U.S. Senate Finance Committee today approved sweeping health care reform legislation that includes major initiatives authored by Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) to reform Medicare, aid seniors in need of long-term care, promote coordinated care between patients and doctors, cut insurance costs, and help cover the country’s uninsured. The bill, America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009, will be combined with legislation previously passed by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and this melded legislation will then go to the Senate floor for debate.

“I am a mountain climber, and to reach the summit, you need a good foothold; this legislation gives us that foothold,” said Cantwell, who voted with the majority to pass the bill by a vote of 14-9. “We are now one step closer toward historic and long-sought reform of our health care system. I will be working with my colleagues on the Senate floor to ensure that the many strong provisions in this legislation remain, to improve it where necessary, and to emerge with a bill that controls health care costs, improves the quality of health care, and looks after the people that our system has left behind.”

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This morning the critical Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Senator Max Baucus, passed his healthcare policy reform package by a vote of 14-9.

Republican Senator Olympia Snowe broke with her party and voted for the bill in committee, stating, “when history call, history calls.”

Baucus said, “Ours is a balanced plan that can pass the Senate.”

Now the Senate Finance bill will have to be combined with the bill created by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee bill. That bill will then have to be passed by the full Senate.

The House of Representatives will have to pass their version of healthcare policy reform. Then the House bill and the Senate bill will be combined in a Conference Committee, and the bill that comes out of that committee will have to be passed by the both the House and Senate before being presented to President Barack Obama for signature or veto.

We still have a long way to go, and the devil is in the details.

Watch Komo News coverage of the healthcareWA.com sponsored R-71 forum last night at Edmonds Community College.

You can watch the full discussion on the Edmonds Community College cable channel, 21-26. Click here for more details about air times.

You can also read coverage in the Everett Herald here.

Tonight healthcareWA is proud to be sponsoring a town hall debate on Referendum 71 and the “Everything but Marriage Law.”

The event will feature a 4-person panel on both sides of the debate. They include Rep. Marko Liias (D-Edmonds), one of the legislature’s few openly gay members, and Joseph Backholm, Executive Director of the Family Policy Institute of Washington. They will be joined by members of both campaigns.

The panel will engage in a moderated discussion of the referendum, including responses to TV ads run by both campaigns. The audience will be allowed to ask questions directly of panel participants, as well.

Referendum 71 will have a significant impact on the ability of domestic partners to make important healthcare decisions for their partners, including end-of-life choices.

The Black Box Theater, in which the Forum will be held, seats 200 people. Students and faculty are reserved 30 tickets. The remaining 170 seats are divided equally between advocates of the two sides of the issue. Tickets are free, but are required for entrance.

The Senate Finance Committee is still locked in debate over Chairman Max Baucus’ new healthcare reform bill.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has canceled the October recess in an attempt to make lawmakers focus on the healthcare policy reform debate.

This is a significant political move because this time of the year politicians traditionally return home for campaigning and fundraising events.

Given that and the progress to this point, our over-under on a final vote is October 28th.

Stay tuned for more details…

From a release through Congressman Jay Inslee’s office:

On Monday October 12th, Congressmen Jay Inslee and Adam Smith will join small business owners and health reform supporters to speak out about why health reform is critical for small businesses to grow and build the local economy. Congressmen Inslee and Smith will speak at the Seattle and Tacoma locations respectively of a small business health care canvass being conducted simultaneously in four cities in Western Washington (Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, Olympia).

Following a short speaking program featuring the stories of local business owners, volunteers will canvass surrounding small business districts to talk with business owners, hang posters supporting health reform in storefronts, and mobilize the community in support of health reform.

The event is sponsored by the Washington Small Business for Secure Health Care Coalition as part of a national push to showcase small business support for health reform featuring events in 10 states on October 12th and 13th. Across the country, small business owners are calling on Congress to enact health reform this year that meets the needs of Main Street small businesses rather than K Street insurance industry lobbyists.