By Marianna Levyash – Talk Radio News Service

Sara Collins of the Commonwealth Fund and Stuart Butler of the Heritage Foundation shared their differences over the costs and benefits of health care reform during a briefing held Friday at the Alliance for Health Reform headquarters in Washington, D.C..

The Commonwealth Fund recently released a study on how effective the system reform provisions are in the House and Senate bills. They found that both bills are practical and contain key provisions that target cost and quality.

“Both bills substantially expand coverage to 94-96% of people…the major effect is on the uninsured,” said Collins.

Butler disagreed, arguing that both bills will create “troubling areas of affordability in legislation.” Specifically, Butler expressed disapproval over proposals involving higher taxes and employee insurance mandates.

“We will soon see pressures to afford other things in our economy,” said Butler. “The cost is squeezing out funds to have for our education and other goals that we have in our society.”

By Marianna Levyash – Talk Radio News Service

In a phone interview with Talk Radio News Service Thursday, Heritage Foundation Senior Legal Research Fellow Brian W. Walsh said that language used in the federal cyber-bullying bill, introduced earlier this year by Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), is overly broad.

“The terms [in the bill]…don’t have a precise, clear, accepted, generally agreed upon definition in federal law,” said Walsh.

Sanchez drafted the “The Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act” in response to the death of Megan Meier, a 13-year-old girl from Missouri who committed suicide in 2006 after being cyber-bullied on the social networking site MySpace by a woman named Lori Drew, the mother of one of Meier’s classmates. Drew was indicted and convicted on charges stemming from the incident in 2008, but was later acquitted in 2009.

The bill has received mixed reviews from a handful of members of Congress who have argued that it uses vague terms and would cause potential violations of free speech rights.

“We need to be extremely careful before heading down this path,” said Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) during a House subcommittee hearing on the legislation back in September.

The bill would amend the federal criminal code to allow criminal penalties to be levied upon anyone that “transmits in interstate or foreign commerce a communication intended to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to another person, by using electronic means.”

“We are going to end up criminalizing conduct that shouldn’t be criminal in the first place…it’s easy to draft an overbroad criminal law,” said Walsh.

Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) reminds the public that it is his duty as a legislator “to help [his] constituency despite all the obstacles thrown in [their] path.” (0:37)

 

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Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) shows his support for the Senate health care bill, saying “Our aim here is very simple: To recreate America as a wellness society, to get away from sick care to true health care.” (0:56)

 

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Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) confidently says, “This Congress, this Presidency, are going to sign into law a national health care program for all Americans.” (0:15)

 

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At a press conference Thursday marking the release of the Senate health care bill, HELP Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) says, “This is an opportunity that comes oh so rarely to any Congress to make a difference for 100% of your fellow citizens…[to] improve the quality of life for every single American for decades to come.” (0:34)

 

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) invokes a statement former President Harry S. Truman wrote to Congress 64 years ago today that said “we should resolve now that the health of this nation is a national concern, that financial barriers in the way of attaining health shall be removed, that is, the health of all the citizens deserve the help of all the nation.” (0:27)

 

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Says Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), “We have been working to reform health care since the first half of the last century.” (0:16)

 

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By Marianna Levyash – Talk Radio News Service

Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) displayed concern over the high cost of the Senate health care bill during a press conference Thursday.

According to statistics Gregg obtained from the Senate Budget Committee, the bill increases federal spending by $1.2 trillion between now and 2019, and if fully implemented, it would cost over $2.5 trillion over the next ten years.

“This representation that it’s an $850 million dollar bill is simply wrong,” said Gregg.

Republicans opposed to the legislation say taxes will go up by nearly $500 billion, Medicare will be cut by $465 billion and that 24 million people will still be left uninsured.

“Revenues shouldn’t go to create a new entitlement, they should go to reduce the out-year already contingent unfunded liability that we have in Medicare,” stated Gregg.

The Senate is expected to vote on the bill this coming Saturday.

By Marianna Levyash – Talk Radio News Service

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) along with Democratic leaders on Thursday unveiled their health care bill, complete with a state opt-out government-administered public option.

During the press conference, Reid invoked former President Harry Truman, who wrote to Congress 64 years ago today that “we should resolve now that the health of this nation is a national concern, that financial barriers in the way of attaining health shall be removed.”

The 2,074 page “The Patient Protection and Affordable Act,” ensures that over ten years, the $849 billion bill will produce a net deficit of over $130 billion, cut future Medicare spending and ban insurance companies that decline coverage to anyone with a “pre-existing [medical] condition.”

Coverage will be extended to 94% of eligible Americans, close to the 96% of Americans covered in the House Affordable Health Care For America Act.

When asked about the abortion amendment in the bill, Reid answered “This is a health care bill, not an abortion bill.”

Reid and his fellow Democrats now need 60 votes in order to pass the bill. When asked about the chances of that happening, Reid responded by saying, “We’ll find out when the votes are taken.” He added that he will not use reconciliation as a means of passing the bill.