Senate, House committees approve reform legislation

Comprehensive health care reform legislation passed a significant milestone last week as Senate and House committees approved different legislative packages. At the same time, comments from the head of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) put a damper on the potential further progress of the legislation.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on July 15 approved the "Affordable Health Choices Act," legislation that would, if enacted, introduce several health insurance market reforms designed to provide universal health coverage. Meanwhile, the House Ways and Means and the House Education and Labor Committees on July 16 approved H.R. 3200, the "America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009."

The House bill would expand health insurance coverage to 95 percent of the population by 2019, at a cost of slightly more than $1 trillion over that time period, according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)and the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT).

The vote in the Senate was 13-10, with all Democrats voting for the legislation and all Republicans voting against it. In the House Ways and Means Committee, the vote was 23-18, with three Democrats and all Republicans voting against the legislation.

In the House Education and Labor Committee, the vote was 26-22, again with three Democrats and all Republicans voting against the legislation. Both House committees approved amendments to the legislation that was first introduced on July 14. The House Energy and Commerce Committee is still holding hearings on the bill.