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Senate, House pass reconciliation to health care bill
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Officials in Washington made the final changes to the health care reform bill Thursday — first in a 56-43 vote by the Senate and later in a 220-207 vote by the House of Representatives. The add-on reconciliation bill now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature.
Republicans identified small flaws that affected two minor provisions (one altering the Pell grants for low-income students) and included changes to the main health care bill that the president signed into law on Tuesday.
The reconciliation requires 51 votes — instead of the 60 majority that Democrats would have needed to stop a Republican filibuster — and may only be utilized to pass provisions directly affecting the federal budget. This provision was removed, which required the revote by the House.
After the Senate completed the reconciliation bill Thursday afternoon, it was sent back to the House for approval.
Revisions made to various central provisions adopted by the Senate on Dec. 24 include:
- Reductions in the penalty for individuals who fail to obtain insurance so that by 2016, individuals who do not have insurance would be fined $695 a year.
- Penalties for employers whose employees receive subsidies in the new exchanges, rather than buying insurance through the employer.
- Limits on the amount of money a low-income person or household would be required to pay out-of-pocket for health care.
- A one-time, $250 rebate to Medicare beneficiaries who fall into the “doughnut hole” during 2010, which will be phased out during the next decade.
- Additional Medicare reimbursements during 2010 to physicians with lower-than-average practice costs.
- More time for insurance companies to comply with the new regulations.
- Scale back on the tax on high benefits and pushing the effective date on the tax to 2018.
Moreover, the bill delays the initiation of a new tax on employer-sponsored insurance policies until 2018 and increases the thresholds at which policies are hit by the tax. It also includes changes to allow children to remain on their parents’ insurance policies through age 26 years. The bill also included a broad restructuring of federal student loan programs.
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