Senator Evan Bayh on the passage of the Health Care Bill

[and-justice-for-all]

Earlier today the Senate passed The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. When my name was called, I voted "yes." Passing health care reform is a meaningful victory for all of us long committed to providing affordable, quality health care in America.

This legislation will prevent the practices of insurance companies that people have rightly raised objections. Health reform will prohibit insurance companies from denying Hoosiers coverage because they have a medical condition. It prevents insurance companies from dropping people from their coverage because they become seriously ill. It limits the fees that insurance companies can charge consumers. And it ensures that everyone can keep the right to choose their own doctor.

For too long, rising health care costs have put a strain on the budgets of middle-class families and small businesses. This bill will create greater transparency, consumer choice and competition, all of which will drive costs down over time. Ninety three percent of Americans will see their health insurance costs remain stable or go down. For the other seven percent, increased competition and new coverage choices were added to reduce costs that otherwise might rise.

Health reform will also lower skyrocketing premiums for small businesses, the engine of job growth in our state. This legislation offers tax credits and allows small companies and individuals to purchase insurance together, so they can benefit from price discounts that only large companies and the government currently enjoy.

President Obama and I have been adamant that health care reform not add a dime to our deficit, and this bill makes good on that pledge. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office indicates that this legislation will actually reduce the deficit by $132 billion over the first 10 years and up to $1.3 trillion in the decade beyond. This is not the complete answer to our deficit problem, but it's a start.

The Senate bill was endorsed by the AARP because it will offer expanded prescription drug coverage for seniors. It has also been endorsed by the American Medical Association because it will provide insurance coverage to millions of additional Americans, making ours a more just and humane society.

I was disappointed that more of my colleagues didn't cast aside politics in favor of the national interest. Even reform's fiercest opponents cannot deny that our system has flaws. I believe we should try to improve our health care system rather than do nothing. Of course there will be things to correct. With a proposal this large and complex, perfection is unachievable.

But one thing is certain beyond any doubt: Inaction would have only caused our problems to fester, year after year. This bill gives us a chance for a better health care system, and I am proud to join the President in supporting it.

Sincerely,



Evan Bayh

[Cleita]

1. I guess this is the half a loaf

that is spoken of.

[AllentownJake]

2. His wife will profit greatly from this

:puke:

[IndianaGreen]

3. Evan Bayh is as much a crook as his corporate whore of a wife, Susan

Evan Bayh's Wife Reaping The Benefits Of Health Care Reform

Jason Linkins
First Posted: 12-22-09 02:43 PM | Updated: 12-22-09 02:48 PM

Stephen Colbert once remarked, "There are some things that everybody knows, but nobody says."

He was referring to something that I've endeavored to point out as the debate over health care reform has taken shape: namely, the fact that many of the lawmakers who have curbed the effort for effective health care reform are clearly acting against the authentic wishes of their constituents in favor of personal enrichment and the promise of swollen campaign war-chests, courtesy of powerful, moneyed interests.

Those interests are reaping the rewards of having their demands met. And, amid the exploding profits that the health insurance industry is enjoying as a bill that would eliminate market competition wends its way through the legislative process, Salon blogger Glenn Greenwald zooms in on one example of how this disconnected decision-making process manifests itself, to our detriment:

Just to put this boon to health insurance stocks in perspective: according (to) an Indianapolis Star article from June, Evan Bayh's wife, Susan, "owns from $500,001 to $1 million in employee stock in WellPoint, the Indianapolis-based insurance giant on whose board she sits." That would mean that the value of her personal holdings in that one health insurance company alone, in the last six weeks alone (since Lieberman and her husband began menacing the public option), would have increased by a value of between $125,000 and $250,000. As part of the bonanza of health care industry board positions she magically received since her husband became a Senator, Susan Bayh is given a quarter-million dollars each year in stocks and stock options from Wellpoint. That's just a microcosm for considering how well Obama's so-called "special interests" have done as a result of this health care bill.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/22/evan-bayhs-wife-reaping-t_n_400827.html

First posted in Indiana Forum:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=151x7308