House Democrats help pass Republican-led healthcare bill

Jason Cannon
Unit 4 (Congress, Bill-Law)
11/15/13

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24966051

Synopsis:
        A bill was passed in the House today that would give insurance companies the ability to sell insurance plans that do not comply with the Obamacare standards.  The White House was very against this bill and said they would reject it if it passed the Senate.  It is not likely that it will pass Senate.  39 Democrats in the House voted for this bill.  The article mentioned that this may be due to the fact that elections are coming up and they don't want to look bad because of Obamacare.  This article also talked about the struggling healthcare website and the concerns it is bringing.  Obama said on Thursday that those with current plans that did not meet Obamacare standards could have one year before they had to comply.  He is currently meeting with several healthcare business leaders to find the best way to get Americans into healthcare plans.

Comments:
        I think that this whole situation shows that Obamacare was not at all ready to be rolled out on October 1st.  The fact that they still don't have the website working is a big indicator that they should have at least waited a few months.  Also, the fact that Obama is scrambling around and talking to healthcare industry leaders now about how to best get people signed up for plans shows that Obamacare was not ready.

       The 39 House Democrats who voted for this bill showed their unease with the system.  It would have been interesting to see if those same members of congress would have voted the same way had they been in the Senate.  Because the House terms are only two years, the representatives have to be much more reactive to the people in order to have chance for reelection.  I think the vote of these 39 representatives demonstrates the uncertain views of many Americans when it comes to Obamacare.

        I also find fault with Obamacare in that several people have been told that they need to upgrade plans despite Obama's initial statement  that no one who had healthcare would have to change.  You would think that Obama would know about his own healthcare plan enough not to say something like that.  It is obvious that many people are not okay with having to switch plans as demonstrated by Obama's statement on Thursday that people could hold onto their old plan for a year.  It seems that he is not very secure and confident in what he is doing in terms of Obamacare. 

        The bill proposed by the House will almost certainly not become a law because it must pass the Senate (democratically controlled) and the President (who probably would not destroy his own system even though he seems very unsure about it).  This is just another example of the checks and balances system at work in the United States and highlights what it takes for a bill to become a law.