Health Reform and the 111th Congress, Hinda Chaikind, Specialist in Health Care Financing, October 14, 2009
The health reform debate in the 111th Congress has continued and expanded upon the work begun in the 110th Congress. On November 12, 2008, the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Baucus, released a white paper detailing his principles for health reform. This provided a framework for work within the committee for the 111th Congress. Several bills were introduced when the 111th Congress first convened, and these bills focused on a broad spectrum of approaches to health reform. Most recently, the House and Senate committees of principle jurisdiction on health reform have been formulating their legislation. On July 15, one of the two committees with principle jurisdiction in the Senate, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, ordered reported S. 1679, the Affordable Health Choices Act. In the House, the principle jurisdiction for health reform is divided among the Committees on Education and Labor, Ways and Means, and Energy and Commerce. Jointly, the committees released for consideration H.R. 3200, Americas Affordable Health Choices Act, on July 14. The Committees on Education and Labor and Ways and Means each ordered reported, as amended, their versions of H.R. 3200 on July 17. The Committee on Energy and Commerce ordered reported its version of H.R. 3200 on July 31, 2009. The Senate Finance Committee ordered reported the Chairmans mark, as amended, known as Americas Health Future Act of 2009, on October 13.”
Sorry, comments are closed for this post.