Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), fresh of her victory with the passage of a House healthcare reform bill, will tour Swedish Medical Center in Seattle today with Washington Representatives Jay Inslee (1st), Norm Dicks (6th), and Jim McDermott (7th).

All four voted in favor of the H.R. 3962.

Late Saturday night the House voted to approve H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, by a narrow margin of 220-215.

One Republican, Representative Joseph Cao (R-LA), voted for the bill, and 39 Democrats voted against the bill.

Cao cited his conscience as the reason for his vote. “Twenty percent of the people in my district are uninsured and we have tremendous health care issues in the district,” Cao said.

Representative Brian Baird (D), of Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, voted against the bill. “Until more information is available on premium estimates and Medicare impacts, I will vote against the legislation in its current form. I will wait to make a decision on final legislation until this critical information becomes available and when the House and Senate together produce one bill,” Baird said.

Here is how the rest of Washington Congressional Delegation voted:

1st: Jay Inslee (D) — Voted Yes
2nd: Rick Larsen (D) — Voted Yes
3rd: Brian Baird (D) — Voted No
4th: Doc Hastings (R) — Voted No
5th: Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R) — Voted No
6th: Norm Dicks (D) — Voted Yes
7th: Jim McDermott (D) — Voted Yes
8th: Dave Reichert (R) — Voted No
9th: Adam Smith (D) — Voted Yes

Well, one chamber has now passed a bill. It’ll get reworked considerably I imagine before it comes back to the House. The Senate bill, after all, is widely divergent in many areas from the House bill, which is why we have Conference Committees.

But here are some things we’re thinking about this week and what we’ll be working on in the aftermath of the House vote.

- What was Brian Baird’s rationale for voting against this bill? Not just what he says in the press statement, but what are the real politics at play there?

- What are the practical economic impacts of the Stupak amendment limiting coverage of abortions? There are some persuasive politics at play, but will this have a measurable “real world” impact on plans, providers or patients?

- What will it take to get the Senate to bring their bill to the floor?

- What are the consequences of Lieberman standing athwart this effort to his future with the Senate Dems?

- Perhaps the most intriguing thing we’re thinking about: what are the impacts of this reform package on Washington State’s efforts at reform? This sets the stage for a real effort at reform in 2011. What will this mean for that?

When the dust settles from reform at the end of the day, I have the sneaking suspicion we will have just as many questions then as there are today. More from us as our brains wake up to the week.

Yesterday President Barack Obama spoke for a few minutes on the late Saturday night passage of a healthcare reform bill in the House. Watch that video here, courtesy of MSNBC.

Just a few things that make me go “hmmm” as I’m watching the floor speeches on the health care vote in the House today.

“All Americans have healthcare. Every single one.” Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa). (From his floor speech today.)

Hmm.

“Texas, for example, has adopted approaches to controlling health-care costs while improving choice, advancing quality of care and expanding coverage.” Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry (R-Gov of Tex)

Hmm. Texas has the highest level of uninsured at 24.1%.

More later. Rules are getting finalized at 10:00 pst. Looks like the final floor vote is has been pushed back to 7:30 pst.

As the vote on healthcare reform in the House draws near, both caucuses are looking to nail down votes. House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) has vowed to ensure that all House Republicans vote against the bill, leaving the passage of the bill up to the 258 House Democrats.

Pelosi and the Democrats have yet to ensure the 218 votes necessary to pass the bill. Some moderate Democrats have already come out opposed to the bill, and some of them remain undecided due to language regarding public funding of abortion and limited coverage for undocumented immigrants.

The House is scheduled to vote on the healthcare reform bill tomorrow – we will have to wait and see whether the Democrats will pass the bill, or if there will be a bi-partisan defeat.

This morning the Executive Office of the President released a strong statement of support for H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act.

“The Administration strongly supports House passage of H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, a bill that represents a critical milestone in the effort to reform our health care system,” the release says.

“The House legislation includes critical reforms to the insurance industry, so that Americans will no longer have to worry that they will be denied coverage, or that their coverage will be dropped or watered down when they need it most. It covers virtually all Americans and ensures that all Americans with health insurance are protected against high out-of-pocket spending.

The House bill also includes a public option, or a government run insurance plan meant to compete with private plans. “The Administration is pleased that the bill includes a public health insurance option offered in an exchange. As the President has said throughout this process, a public option that competes with private insurers is one of the best ways to ensure the choice and competition that are so badly needed in today’s market.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Below is a statement from Representative Rick Larsen’s (D-2nd) Chief of Staff Kim Johnston, received via email by The Bellingham Herald:

After reading the section of the bill containing the public option, Rep. Larsen has come to the conclusion that he supports the public option in this bill. This new public option will work for Washington state. In the original bill (H.R. 3200) payment rates in the public option would have been based on Medicare, which would have shortchanged Washington state. But the payment rates in this new public option (H.R. 3962) will be negotiated between doctors and the Secretary of Health and Human Services. This will ensure that doctors and hospitals are paid closer to market rates. Paying doctors fair market rates will ensure that they are able to accept patients covered by the public plan.

Rep. Larsen has also said that he believes any public option must compete under a “level playing field” with the private health insurance market. The public option in this bill will do just that: it will be subject to the same rules that private insurance plans are subject to, and it will not be subsidized by the government.

Representative Larsen previously stated he was likely to support the bill, but wanted to read it before making further comments.

Federal healthcare reform efforts have been largely focused on the insurance market. So, with the 2010 Legislative session, policy makers in the House – but particularly the Senate – are looking for ideas for meaningful reform of the healthcare delivery system.

So, got any? If you have some insights that you think would be worthy of the Legislature’s attention, let us know. Either email us or comment under this thread.

Michael Halasy recently wrote an editorial for the Journal of the Academy of Physician Assistants, arguing that the most important aspect of healthcare reform is controlling healthcare costs. He points out that healthcare expenditures are increasing far more rapidly than growth in GDP, with healthcare costs expected to rise 7.1 to 7.4% in 2009, comprising 17.6% of GDP. All of this with 47 million uninsured Americans:

The health care reform bills currently being considered by Congress do not fully address costs; more importantly, they do not address the annual increases in costs. They are focused more on the issue of expanding coverage. This is an admirable goal, but unless we find a way to control costs, expanding coverage will only make our situation worse.

Read the entire article here.