WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Tuesday signed into law a landmark health care reform bill, presiding over the biggest shift in U.S. domestic policy since the 1960s and capping a divisive, yearlong debate that could define the November congression
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Tuesday signed into law a landmark health care reform bill, presiding over the biggest shift in U.S. domestic policy since the 1960s and capping a divisive, yearlong debate that could define the November congressional elections. The law will bring near-universal coverage to a wealthy country in which tens of millions of people are uninsured. The plan’s provisions will be phased in over four years, and it is expected to expand coverage to about 95 percent of eligible Americans, compared with 83 percent today. “We have now just enshrined the core principle that everybody should have some basic security when it comes to their health,” Obama said at a signing ceremony at the White House, where he was joined by House and Senate Democrats who backed the bill as well as ordinary Americans whose health care struggles have touched the president. “We are not a nation that scales back its aspirations. We are not a nation that falls prey to doubt or mistrust,” Obama said. “That’s not who we are. That’s not how we got here.” The plan is expected to extend coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans, reduce federal budget deficits and ban such insurance company practices as denying coverage to people with existing medical problems. Obama has pushed health care as his top priority since taking office in January 2009. Failure would have weakened him and endangered other issues on the president’s ambitious domestic agenda, including immigration reform and climate change legislation. Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., said the legislation makes health care in this country affordable. I am proud to say that this legislation will ensure lower costs, greater competition, and more accountability to the system, ending the nefarious insurance company practices of coverage denials and lifetime caps. … I was proud to work with my colleagues in the Senate on behalf of Illinoisans to solve this long-ignored problem.” Illinois Congressmen Danny K. Davis, D-7th, Bobby Rush, D-1st, and Jesse Jackson Jr., D-2nd, were among the congressional leaders who voted in favor of the historic legislation. Rush joined the president at the White House for the bill signing. The congressman had pushed for a number of provisions in the health care overhaul including funding for research and treatment of post partum depression, funding for building trauma centers high violent crime urban areas and more clinical research trials for minorities and other groups. “Today history has been made and no longer will Americans suffer because of a lack of access to quality health care,” Rush said. “We have taken a giant step forward in righting the wrongs in the U.S. health care system. Right now nearly 1 in 5 African Americans are without health insurance. Also, African Americans in general spend a higher percentage of their income on health care costs compared to their white counterparts (16.5 percent vs. 12.2). However, despite spending a larger share of their income on medical care, African Americans face continuing health care disparities.” Davis serves on the Ways and Means committee and was heavily involved in negotiations and concessions for the legislation. He called the new law “the best thing that has happened for health care in this country since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid.” He continued: “Thirty million people in this country will have health insurance coverage who currently do not have it. … This bill will make healthcare affordable to millions of people who have never had insurance before in their lives.” Cong. Jackson called the health care law a “defining moment” in U.S. history. “When it is fully implemented, this new law will put the American people – not the insurance companies – in control of their own health care. It expands health care coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans and strengthens the coverage of the hundreds of millions who already have it,” Cong. Jackson said. “With Congress passing and the president signing this law, we’ve proved to the American people that we can seize the moment and shape the future. At our best, we rise above our fears and doubts to meet our obligations and commitments. We choose hope over fear, action rather than inertia and the public good above private interests.” Republicans were united in opposition to Obama’s redesign of the health care system, criticizing it as a costly government takeover affecting one-sixth of the U.S. economy. They have vowed to use the issue to try to regain control of Congress in this year’s elections. “By signing this bill, President Obama is abandoning our founding principle that government governs best when it governs closest to the people,” said House Republican leader John Boehner. “Never before has such a monumental change to our government been carried out without the support of both parties. Rev. Jesse Jackson said passing the reform “in the face of virulent Republican opposition is the moral ly right thing to do.” The civil rights leader and head of the Rainbow/PUSH coalition said the health care legislation could have a domino effect on the foreclosure front, helping Americans not have to choose between paying for health care or paying their mortgage. Shortly after Obama signed the bill, mostly Republican attorneys general from 13 states said they are suing the federal government to stop the health care overhaul, arguing that the provision that requires Americans to carry health insurance is unconstitutional. Experts say the effort will likely fail because the U.S. Constitution states that federal law supersedes state laws, but the legal challenge may keep the issue fresh in the mind of voters come November. Democratic lawmakers say they have delivered on Obama’s campaign pledge for change, revamping a system in which the spiraling costs have put health care and insurance out of the reach of many Americans. Now the president must sell the law’s merits to a wary American public. The House passed the 10-year, $938 billion bill Sunday night after a rancorous debate. Not one Republican voted for the bill. Some Democrats also voted against it. The measure represents the biggest expansion of the U.S. federal government’s social safety net since President Lyndon B. Johnson enacted the Medicare and Medicaid government-funded health care coverage programs for the elderly and poor. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus – of which Rush, Davis and Jesse Jackson Jr. are members – say they believe the bill will make significant impact in the Black community. “We cast our votes for all those people who deserve health care but simply can’t afford it. We cast our votes for our senior citizens who will see their prescription drug costs go down. We cast our votes for our children and grandchildren, so that they can live longer, fuller and healthier lives. We cast our votes in the memory of those people who didn’t have preventive care and died prematurely,” according to a statement from Congressional Black Caucus Chair Barbara Lee, D-Calif., applauding the passage. “We were vocal advocates for provisions in the bill to combat health disparities, illnesses and diseases that disproportionately affect our community.” Accordng to a CBC document, other key provisions in the legislation that CBC members fought to have incorporated in the legislation include: • Expanded support for community health centers, • Greater support for programs that will increase the racial and ethnic diversity in the nation’s health workforce, as well as improved data collection so that we can better measure health inequities and develop solutions to end all health disparities. • Inclusion of coverage for residents of the U.S. territories • Investment of $35 billion over 10 years to increase the maximum annual Pell Grant to $5,550 in 2010 and to $5,975 by 2017. • Investment of $2.55 billion in Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institution • Investment of $2 billion in a competitive grant program for community colleges to develop and improve educational or career training programs. • Saves taxpayers $61 billion over by switching to the less expensive Direct Loan program. The Associated Press and the National Newspaper Publishers Association contributed to this report.
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