Senate votes to begin formal deliberations on health care bill

The U.S. Senate voted Saturday 60 to 39 to begin debate on a sweeping health care reform bill. Deliberations are scheduled to begin Nov. 30.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590) calls for a national health care option, requires U.S. residents to purchase health insurance and establishes health care exchanges that would subsidize coverage for individuals and families with annual income between 133% and 400% of the federal poverty level.

“The road ahead is a long stretch but we can see the finish line,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., the bill’s primary sponsor, said in a press release. “When this debate begins on the floor, the differences will be clear to the American people. Our plan saves lives, saves money and saves Medicare.”

Mitch Stewart, director of Organizing for America, called the Senate vote a key early win for health care reform.

“There are more fights ahead, but this is a big victory,” Mr. Stewart said in an online blog.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Senate Republicans will pursue cost-saving measures.

“Republicans will now provide what the closed-door sessions did not,” Sen. McConnell said in a press release. “We will continue to offer the common-sense, step-by-step, cost-saving reform that Americans really want.”

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill would cut the federal deficit by $127 billion over the next 10 years and up to $650 billion in the following decade, according to a statement by President Barack Obama.

The CBO and Joint Committee on Taxation estimated the bill would increase federal spending by $356 billion and boost revenues by $486 billion between 2010 and 2019, according to a letter from CBO Director Douglas W. Elmendorf to Sen. Reid.