- Home
- News Grid
- Local News
- Green Hawk
- Business
- Politics
- School Zone
- Nonprofits
- Missing Pets
- Multimedia
- Arts
- Movies
- Outdoors
- Sports
- News Releases
- Columnists
- Blogs
- Opinions
- Classifieds
- Advertise
- Donate
- Partners
Capps Votes to Pass Historic Health-Care Legislation
[Noozhawk’s note: On a party-line vote, the House of Representatives cleared landmark health-care legislation Sunday night that cues the biggest transformation of the U.S. health-care system in history. The House voted 219-212 to pass the Senate’s previously approved health-care measure. Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, voted for the bill, which was opposed by all 178 Republicans and 34 Democrats.
Soon after, the House voted 220-211 to approve a companion bill making changes to the Senate legislation, a measure necessary to attract support in the House. The companion bill heads back to the Senate for a vote later this week. All Republicans voted against the companion bill, as did 33 Democrats.
President Barack Obama addressed the nation from the White House late Sunday.
“At a time when the pundits said it was no longer possible, we rose above the weight of our politics,” Obama said in hailing the vote to approve the $940 billion measure. “We proved that this government ... still works for the people.”]
Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, released the following statement as she declared her support for the health-care measure Sunday on the House floor:
“Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of passing comprehensive health-care reform legislation.
This moment has been a long time coming. I’ve worked on health care since coming to Congress and passing comprehensive reform has always been a major goal of mine.
I’ve met with and listened to my constituents, along with countless doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, researchers and other health-care experts. They know that America’s health-care system has many wonderful aspects: it can provide the most cutting-edge care, cure diseases thought fatal only a few years ago, and devise new and exciting drugs, devices and treatments with mind-numbing speed.
But we also know our health-care system’s problems are legion. Coverage is erratic, incomplete and can evaporate without notice; costs are out of control for consumers, businesses and taxpayers; and health outcomes are actually better in dozens of countries that spend far less per capita than we do.
The legislation before us addresses these problems and will help ensure that affordable, quality health care is always available to all Americans.
The most trumpeted aspect of the bill is the coverage it would provide to some 32 million Americans who are currently uninsured, including an estimated 92,000 citizens in my own district. Passing this legislation is a matter of life or death for them as an estimated 45,000 Americans die every year because they lack health-care insurance. In addition, the uninsured are much more likely to forego primary care and delay other health-care services leading to the development of otherwise preventable disease, requiring much more invasive and costly treatments.
The bill expands Medicaid to provide coverage for more very low-income individuals, and sets up state exchanges that will serve as marketplaces for individuals and small businesses to buy affordable health plans. The bill provides assistance to some individuals to purchase coverage and tax credits to small businesses so that they can provide health insurance to their employees. And it lets young adults stay on their parents’ plans until age 26. These new mechanisms and support systems should provide coverage to the vast majority of today’s uninsured, improving both the physical and financial health of millions of our fellow citizens.
But, perhaps just as important, the bill offers critical protection for those already with health insurance. Today, insurance companies often drop consumers if they get sick, refuse coverage for so-called pre-existing conditions, and put annual and lifetime limits on a consumer’s coverage. This bill puts an end to those unfair practices. A wife’s diagnosis of cancer or a child’s serious accident shouldn’t be the cause for a family losing health insurance just when it is needed most.
Those currently with coverage will also benefit through lowered insurance premiums. The Congressional Budget Office says premiums will be 14 percent to 20 percent lower per policy holder. Furthermore, the nonpartisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation estimates that without health-care reform individuals and families would see their health insurance premiums rise by as much as 79 percent over the next decade. That is unaffordable, unsustainable, and just one of the many reasons we must enact this legislation.
The bill also makes significant investments to train our next generation of doctors, nurses and allied-health professionals. This is critical because today’s current shortages of nurses and doctors would only be exacerbated as we bring millions of new regular patients into the system without the appropriate investment in our health-care workforce.
The legislation will also make it much easier to access preventive health-care services by eliminating co-pays for important recommended screenings such as those for heart disease or cervical cancer.
Madam Speaker, I’ve been hearing a lot from senior citizens concerned about what our health-care reform proposal would mean for them.
The bill will close Medicare’s prescription drug “doughnut hole,” which in my congressional district affects nearly 9,000 beneficiaries. It is unfair that policyholders should have to pay insurance premiums while receiving no coverage. The legislation before us today will give seniors who fall into the doughnut hole a $250 rebate this year, 50 percent discounts on brand-name drugs when they fall into the doughnut hole beginning next year, and completely close the doughnut hole by 2020. In addition to closing the doughnut hole, we take steps to crack down on fraud, waste and abuse which will extend the solvency of the Medicare Trust Fund by nine years, according to the CBO.
Finally, this bill is the largest deficit-reduction measure in a generation. According to the CBO, enactment of this legislation is projected to reduce the federal deficit by $130 billion by 2020 and by more than $1.2 trillion during the following decade. Earlier this year, the Democratic-led Congress reinstated tough “pay-go” budget rules the Republican-led Congress had allowed to lapse in 2003 and this health-care bill is a reflection of our determination to bring our federal books back into balance as they were prior to the Bush administration.
Madam Speaker, I will not argue this is a perfect bill because it is not. Most problematically, it lacks a public option, which would make the insurance market more competitive, ensure the greatest possible choice for consumers and bring down health-care costs even more than the bill does already. I am also deeply disappointed the bill contains inappropriate language that may restrict a woman’s access to reproductive health services.
But I’m also not one to let the perfect be the enemy of the good and in this case, we have legislation that is very good and deserves our favorable consideration.
I urge my colleagues to do the same.”
— Randolph Harrison is chief of staff for Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara.
Comments
Noozhawk's comments are moderated, but by posting here you accept your responsibility to follow our rules as part of Noozhawk's shared online community. Please keep your comments civil and helpful. Don't attack other readers personally, and do not use vulgar, abusive or discriminatory language. Use the "Report Abuse" link if a comment violates these standards or our Terms of Use.
» on 03.21.10 @ 10:49 PM
Taxin Cappsin never saw a tax she didn’t like, and she is for the legaliztion of illegals. Vote this nurse out..
15 million unemployeed Americans—15-20 million illegals??
You don't have permission to flag this entry.
» on 03.21.10 @ 11:20 PM
All pre-existing conditions covered (but wait, 80% of healthcare costs are incurred by self-caused chronic abusers) that means YOU AND ME will pay for those who self-abuse drugs, alcohol, food, cigarettes, sex, sports without helmets, sans seatbelts, etc. Never mind the costs of those in the country illegally. The CBO numbers are fantasies….
AND doctors HATE THIS BILL. It will hurt the doctor-patient relationship and cost us jobs and indebt us more.
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Lois, you and everyone who voted for this bill are toast.
This is a dark day in America…
You have already flagged this entry.
» on 03.22.10 @ 07:25 AM
Lois, thanks for voting for the bill. There are several very positive things that will happen immediately such as:
-no denial of coverage due to preexisting conditions
-ability to keep a student up to age 26 on the family policy
-no life cap on the payout by insurance companies
-all insurance companies must publish the percentage of premiums dedicated to paying for healthcare
-closing the prescription drug donut hole for seniors
-all policies are required to have free preventive care such as vacinations and checkups
SB Native we already pay for the uninsured at the emergency room. This is cheaper and more effective in the long run. I personally know several doctors that like this bill so I am not sure where you get your information. I agree the bill is not perfect by any means but it is headed in the right direction. I am for single payer healthcare which is a long way from this.
I am glad to see that some of our politicians are not bought and paid for by the health insurance industry.
You don't have permission to flag this entry.
» on 03.22.10 @ 07:57 AM
Can’t we find an ELECTABLE candidate to run against Lois?
You don't have permission to flag this entry.
» on 03.22.10 @ 08:05 AM
News flash-we pay for those same people now! Except now we pay far far more because the only time someone who doesn’t have insurance sees a doctor is in the ER. The fact some don’t want to pay for others is understandable, not very Christian, but understandable. Not knowing the facts after this much debate is not.
You don't have permission to flag this entry.
» on 03.22.10 @ 08:52 AM
Universal Health Care 101:
http://www.zombietime.com/zomblog/?p=1224
Read it and weep.
You don't have permission to flag this entry.
» on 03.22.10 @ 09:48 AM
Are illegal aliens covered by the new bill? How is this going to stop them from using the emergency rooms?
Tort reform in there anywhere?
You don't have permission to flag this entry.
» on 03.22.10 @ 10:41 AM
This is far from over people. We will not allow 20% of the population to dictate to the rest of us what we do with our own money. There is nothing about forcing people to give to others that is Christian. Compassion is done by a willing heart, not at the point of a gun. What I write next will sound apocalyptic and most likely be misinterpreted and misquoted by my enemies, so be it. The gloves come off now.
When most of you realize that you came here or your ancestors came here to get away from government tyranny and those left behind are the weak and the capitulators, then you will be incensed by what happened yesterday. Your government, using compassion as a cover, just shoved a white hot poker up your derrière. When you get your feeling back and it starts to burn you will realize that even though the Europeans may like it you don’t. They have the blood of the cowering and the institutionalized. Running through your veins is the blood of a rebel, the same rebel that told the crown to butt out, picked up a rifle and shot at any royal they saw. Yes rebelling against insurance company monopolies and lack of oversight is that rebel. But inviting the government to just take over for them was not the solution, it’s what those you or your ancestors left behind would do and that will become painfully obvious in the next few months as government reams you for taxes on a new entitlement you won’t benefit from for 4 more years and you watch the greatest healthcare system in the world reduced to rubble by the politburo.
A line is now being drawn in the sand. Pick your side, the left, the nanny state, where your life is now controlled by government and you are nothing more than institutionalized cattle or the right where you will fight to your last dying breath the tyranny that has been imposed on you and live a life of freedom, real freedom where you decide what your fate is not some government wonk.
There was only one other time in our country’s history where we as a people were this fiercely divided over an issue. The bloodiest war in our history was fought the last time over slavery. People this bill signed into law last night has reinstituted slavery in our country again. This time instead of private citizens owning other people we now have the government owning all of us. This is a call to arms folks. Time to stand up and fight to regain the freedom you lost last night. This has never been about healthcare at all. It has always been about who controls who and how it is accomplished. You have the power in your wallet and you must exorcise it accordingly. Stop paying federal and state taxes. Withhold your own tax dollars and then when they come for you they will have to come for all of us. The most heavily armed civilian population on earth will make for a mighty compelling militia. Oh, and the US military, like it or not, is on our side, the peoples side, not the tyranny that has run amuck in Washington at the behest of the 20% liberal population.
The elite liberals may have thought they won something last night and they have. They won the dubious distinction of starting the next civil war, if it comes to that. I have no doubt that the evil spectacle we have witnessed by a sitting US president and the spineless liars, cheats and thieves who did his bidding last night that it will come to that. May God help us all.
You don't have permission to flag this entry.
» on 03.22.10 @ 10:47 AM
Finally! Yesss!!!!
(As for those who feel overtaxed….after 30 years of Reagan and Bush tax cuts, I seriously doubt that you are.)
You don't have permission to flag this entry.
» on 03.22.10 @ 11:13 AM
AN50, I think you missed your calling. You should have been a preacher. I do not know where to start. It makes me sad that you seem to have lost your way and misinterpreted what is going on. Statements like government controlled heathcare, only 20% of the population support it and the best healthcare system in the world make it clear to me that you are not looking at this objectively. When you have a bill that does not allow for denial due to preexisting conditions you also must have a mandatory requirement to have basic healthcare or there will be gaming of the system. Also, there are no increased taxes, except on those making over $250K.
I think the violent references by yourself and others are very sad and misplaced and unfortunate. To make such a claim that this is similiar to the divide of the Civil War is way out of line. This bill is not a nanny state. It merely enables people to access affordable healthcare and it takes the initial steps to control the insurance companies. This is not a government run plan, if anything, it is an expansion of the private sector healthcare by 32 million.
Comments like pick your side, this is tyranny and this is war are amazing. This is not such a black and white issue. I heard that Rush Limbaugh promised to move to Costa Rica if this bill passed. I sure he follows through on his promise.
You don't have permission to flag this entry.
» on 03.22.10 @ 11:40 AM
I thought that this might do it—AN50’s head would explode and that would be the end of it but no he just wore out another key board.
You don't have permission to flag this entry.
» on 03.22.10 @ 12:22 PM
To AN50, you are absolutely correct. The line has been drawn. This is war. Liberals have no idea the resolve of freedom-loving constitutionalists. This is far from over, folks. Hang on to your hats.
You don't have permission to flag this entry.
» on 03.22.10 @ 12:55 PM
Local you and your liberal hoard are the same blind nit wits that got Hitler elected in Germany in the 1933. Your atrocious lack of comprehension in what just happened to you is mind numbing.
Look, I mean no one harm Local, but this is not about healthcare reform and never was. All the things you say this bill will do could have been done without the massive government intrusion into healthcare. They could have been done on a smaller basis with much more private participation. But that was never the intent of this bill. It was always about control of wealth.
You are like a boiling frog. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, welfare and all the other social do gooder legislation passed in this country at the behest of socialists are in and of themselves not a cause for much concern but together over time they change the way people think and behave. You never notice the water getting warmer until too late. The more you depend on government for everything the more THEY control your fate not you. That is what this is about. This is a fight to extinguish the tyranny and slavery of creeping socialism. You chose your side. You feel comfortable abdicating your freedom and the responsibility for your own welfare to the federal government. I do not. I have been sick, with no insurance and survived. I have watched love ones die because they could not afford the best medical care in the world. I am saddened by this but never, once, did I ever think that society owed me that care that I could not afford. Never did I consider that a life of slavery to a socialist government was more desirable than death. Your founding fathers did not fight a bloody violent revolution against the English crown so their future offspring could be like that boiling frog giving up their own self direction for a safety net that will in the end render you intellectually and spiritually dead.
What Local, is the point of a healthy body and a generous safety net if you are no freer than an inmate in prison? What did you buy with your liberty Local, a lower insurance premium? Wait until you find out you sold out for that cheaper payment when in fact it will go way up and your service will go way down and you will be a slave to the government. Yes freedom has a price and it is often in the form of suffering at your own doing. All too often we sell our precious freedom for a bit of security only later to realize that the security we bought is far more dangerous than that which we feared in the first place. I am saddened that you never learned those lessons and that you like most of our entitlement mined society would rather be safe and secure in a prison of your own making than free to live and risk the danger that comes with that freedom. You have become that boiling frog.
You don't have permission to flag this entry.
» on 03.22.10 @ 03:41 PM
Congratulation, fellow citizens. We ALL will now have the basic human right of access to health care, like folks in other modern nations. As for the still fuming GOPers, look on the bright side. You still get to cash your monthly Social Security check, enjoy the Medicare benefits you’ve come to love and all the other rights of citizenship the Democrats have brought to you over the years. Oh, and soon your gay sons and daughters will be able to marry like everyone else. You’re welcome! (How does it feel to be continually on the wrong side of history?)
You don't have permission to flag this entry.
» on 03.22.10 @ 03:43 PM
An50, you only made my first statement more powerful and correct. The only trade-off between security and freedom has been done during the Bush Administration and their false warnings and tactics to scare people into giving up their basic rights. Our freedom in America is due to a partnership between the private and public sector. You like to label anything public as socialist. From now on An50 stay off the roads, do not drink the water, do not use your telephone, public schools, the fire department, the FDA, or join the military, accept medicare or social security etc and you shall be free from all of the demons that socialism shall bring.
What you do not seem to understand is that for a society to function properly all boats must rise to a basic level in which altruism plays a role. Past civilizations have died due to the deprivation of the masses and the ugly accumulation by the few. It is not about feeding a nanny state but more about being humane and living in a society that works as a team. I pay plenty of taxes and I utilize services. I have hired employees that have benefited from a great PUBLIC education and I have utilized the great PUBLIC infrastructure to improve performance in the private sector. Where do you think many of the great advances in medicine and technology come from? A partnership between the private sector and the public universities. Once you figure it out that it is not all about you then you will have risen to a higher awareness level. For your sake and others I hope that day comes sooner rather than later.
You don't have permission to flag this entry.
» on 03.22.10 @ 04:16 PM
See what happens when public schools don’t teach Civics any longer? Many people today, especially those on the right, seem to have zero idea of the true definitions of words such as “socialism”, “fascism”, “capitalism”, “democracy” and “public policy”. Its sad really, when basic notions like this are beyond the grasp of grown adults. Go buy some books about the political sciences, turn on BBS World News and develop a little bit more sophistication about your rights as a voter and taxpayer. The average citizen of the UK, Canada, western European nations and most of the industrialized world simply can’t believe how poor our news reportage is and how Americans so often vote against their own interests.
You don't have permission to flag this entry.
» on 03.22.10 @ 04:28 PM
Once again, AN50, bravo and bring it on!
Those who are so misguided, misinformed, or simply entitlement-crazed… those who “complain” about what they haven’t gotten (yet), YOU are in for a very rude shock when you find out WE ARE ALL going to pay more now… and receive less. Long wait to see a doctor? Thank…..... yourselves.
Some of us have LIVED in Europe, that so-called beacon of healthcare perfection. I snort as I write that.
Those of us who DO get what happened Sunday, March 21st, because we bother to GET informed, are sharpening our pitchforks.
This IS war. And our resolve is only stronger now.
What can you do? Find out who voted “yes” and join their opponents in VOTING THEIR BUM OUT. Do it in every state—yeah baby—the internet is nationwide.
Let Freedom Ring.
You don't have permission to flag this entry.
» on 03.22.10 @ 04:37 PM
PS - found this on another blog:
“The greatest democracy in the history of mankind has been toppled. There is no more America as we knew and loved it. The Socialists have won, as was predicted.”
“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.”
“The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
1. From bondage to spiritual faith;
2. From spiritual faith to great courage;
3. From courage to liberty;
4. From liberty to abundance;
5. From abundance to complacency;
6. From complacency to apathy;
7. From apathy to dependence; (We reached this stage yesterday with ObamaCare)
8. From dependency back into bondage.”
-Alexander Tyler 1747-1813
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AWrW7dBq88kvZGZobmRrZnJfMDN0dmh0M2M4
You don't have permission to flag this entry.
» on 03.22.10 @ 05:08 PM
The Patriot’s Rallying Cry: We shall never stop fighting our enemies and our government to defend our freedoms. They want us to receive value for our tax dollars? Never! We’d rather suffer. Access to health care? Not for me! We’re destined to be martyrs so why bother with medicine and attention from health care professionals? Social Security, unemployment benefits? Strictly for wimps! We give our money gladly to the defense industry, the banks, the insurance companies and the wealthy because our destiny as Patriots on the vangard of freedom is to die in the mud of poverty and ignorance. So it has always been and so it shall always be!(Strike up a Sousa march, please!)
You don't have permission to flag this entry.
» on 03.22.10 @ 05:42 PM
We NEED health care reform in this country.
But something like 2/3 of Medicare spending is for end-of-life care, so we really need to address whether 95 year old Granpa needs a hip replacement (OMG! Death panels!).
And Medicare is already undercompensating suppliers so we really need to think about whether cutting Medicare spending makes sense(think about that one - whodya think pays when the doc gets shorted by Medicare? Private patients). Claiming that cutting Medicare expense will help pay for this program is an outright lie; those cuts will come out of all our pockets.
And 15 to 20% of health care expenses go to insurance companies, so we really should think about whether we really need them at all (Disclaimer: based on personal experience I consider insurance companies to be unethical bloodsucking leeches on the neck of society, but that’s just me. Wanna scream about “big corporations”? Start with insurance companies).
And we’re told that a large portion of health care expense is so-called defensive medicine because of ridiculous awards by juries of folks like you and me, so we better take care of tort reform (hardly mentioned by the Dems - the trial lawyers own them) and quit thinking that award money comes from “them” because it ultimately comes from “us”.
And where do illegals get care? ERs. Who pays? Guess!
Yes, we need health care reform, in spite of the Armageddon references and claims of loss of freedom by the Right. And maybe this is a start, but the devil is in the details and in spite of all the self-congratulatory rhetoric from the Left, we know little of the details.
My prediction - the trial lawyers will get even richer from the lawsuits generated by this law. And we won’t know if this law actually helped for at least 10 years. Or maybe never, if the spin doctors have anything to do with it.
You don't have permission to flag this entry.
» on 03.22.10 @ 05:44 PM
Oh, almost forgot. Reporting that Capps voted for this is hardly news - she does whatever Pelosi tells her to do. Yes, by all means, let’s replace Capps.
You don't have permission to flag this entry.
» on 03.22.10 @ 06:13 PM
Patriots rallying cry? Armageddon? What are you guys on crack? John, there is no doubt we need healthcare reform. Unfortunately we did not get reform. What we got was a poke in the eye by a Chicago mobster and his thugs running amuck in DC. You say the devil is in the details, yep and there are 2000 pages of details Satan is hiding in. My God man have you read this bill yet? I have and it is shocking the stuff government in the name of “for your own good” is going to demand of us. And none of the most horrific stuff does anything to clean up waste or fraud. It does nothing to bring costs down nor does it increase the quality. Not a first step at all John. Nope this was a side step toward a single payer socialist system plain and simple. But don’t take my word for it go read the legislation yourself. I never felt a shiver down my spine like I did reading that document.
Here is another one for you, while Emptyhead spins up in glee; this is the same bill his side hated 3 month ago. WTF? Now it’s ok? My God man they think this is some sort of freaking game we are playing here and they are just cheering their side. They don’t have a freaking clue what has happened.
But they will.
You don't have permission to flag this entry.
» on 03.24.10 @ 03:18 PM
She is truly evil and damning us to hell. Not only that, as far as I can see she was too stupid to get a bribe for her vote like the cornhusker kickback, Louisiana purchase, or money for our airport. If this is such a great deal for Americans, then why is she not signing up for it and dropping her congressional Cadillac program that no one else can access? Local liberals, care to try and spin that one?
You don't have permission to flag this entry.
More Local News »
Northbound Off-Ramp at Fairview Avenue in Goleta to Close
Caltrans crews will perform grinding and paving work Tuesday and Wednesday
Goleta Water District Board Approves 2012-13 Budget
The district plans to invest $3.8 million on 26 capital improvement projects
Goleta Fireworks Festival Seeks Sponsors
Thousands of attendees are expected for the July 4 event at Girsh Park
Survey Finds Drop in Support for Cigarette Tax, While Most Back Term Limits Change
A majority favors Gov. Brown’s initiative, but half oppose his revised budget
Casa Esperanza Program Prepares Graduates for Culinary Careers
First class of participants completes the new 12-week training program
Weather: A Few Clouds 53.0º
Search Noozhawk »
