Congress clears historic health care bill

Congress clears historic health care bill


Summoned to success by President Barack Obama, the Democratic-controlled Congress approved historic legislation Sunday night extending health care to tens of millions of uninsured Americans and cracking down on insurance company abuses, a climactic chapter in the century-long quest for near universal coverage.

Widely viewed as dead two months ago, the Senate-passed bill cleared the House on a 219-212 vote. Republicans were unanimous in opposition, joined by 34 dissident Democrats.

Obama watched the vote in the White House's Roosevelt Room with Vice President Joe Biden and about 40 staff aides. When the long sought 216th vote came in - the magic number needed for passage - the room burst into applause and hugs. An exultant president exchanged a high-five with his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.

A second, smaller measure - making changes in the first - was lined up for passage later in the evening. It would then go to the Senate, where Democratic leaders said they had the votes to pass it.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the legislation awaiting the president's approval would extend coverage to 32 million Americans who lack it, ban insurers from denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions and cut deficits by an estimated $138 billion over a decade. If realized, the expansion of coverage would include 95 percent of all eligible individuals under age 65.

For the first time, most Americans would be required to purchase insurance, and face penalties if they refused. Much of the money in the bill would be devoted to subsidies to help families at incomes of up to $88,000 a year pay their premiums.

Far beyond the political ramifications - a concern the president repeatedly insisted he paid no mind - were the sweeping changes the bill held in store for millions of individuals, the insurance companies that would come under tougher control and the health care providers, many of whom would face higher taxes.

Crowds of protesters outside the Capitol shouted "just vote no" in a futile attempt to stop the inevitable taking place inside a House packed with lawmakers and ringed with spectators in the galleries above.

Across hours of debate, House Democrats predicted the larger of the two bills, costing $940 billion over a decade, would rank with other great social legislation of recent decades.

"We will be joining those who established Social Security, Medicare and now, tonight, health care for all Americans, said Speaker Nancy Pelosi, partner to Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in the grueling campaign to pass the legislation.

"This is the civil rights act of the 21st century," added Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the top-ranking black member of the House.

Republicans readily agreed the bill would affect everyone in America, but warned repeatedly of the burden imposed by more than $900 billion in tax increases and Medicare cuts combined.

"We have failed to listen to America," said Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, leader of a party that has vowed to carry the fight into the fall's midterm elections for control of Congress.

The final obstacle to the bill's passage was cleared at mid-afternoon when Obama and Democratic leaders reached a compromise with anti-abortion lawmakers whose rebellion had left the outcome in doubt. The White House announced he would issue an executive order pledging that no federal funds would be used for elective abortion, satisfying Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan and a handful of like-minded lawmakers.

A spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops expressed skepticism that the presidential order would satisfy the church's objections.

Republican abortion foes also said Obama's proposed order was insufficient, and when Stupak sought to counter them, a shout of "baby killer" could be heard coming from the Republican side of the chamber.

The measure would also usher in a significant expansion of Medicaid, the federal-state health care program for the poor. Coverage would be required for incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, $29,327 a year for a family of four. Childless adults would be covered for the first time, starting in 2014.

The insurance industry, which spent millions on advertising trying to block the bill, would come under new federal regulation. They would be forbidden from placing lifetime dollar limits on policies, from denying coverage to children because of pre-existing conditions and from canceling policies when a policyholder becomes ill.

Parents would be able to keep children up to age 26 on their family insurance plans, three years longer than is now the case.

A new high-risk pool would offer coverage to uninsured people with medical problems until 2014, when the coverage expansion would go into high gear.

For the president, the events capped an 18-day stretch in which he traveled to four states and lobbied more than 60 wavering lawmakers in person or by phone to secure passage of his signature domestic issue. According to some who met with him, he warned that the bill's demise could cripple his still-young presidency.

After more than a year of political combat, Democrats piled superlative upon superlative across several hours of House debate.

Rep. Louise Slaughter of New York read a message President Franklin Roosevelt sent Congress in 1939 urging lawmakers to address the needs of those without health care, and said Democrat Harry Truman and Republican Richard Nixon had also sought to broaden insurance coverage.

Republicans attacked the bill without let-up, warning it would harm the economy while mandating a government takeover of the health care system.

"The American people know you can't reduce health care costs by spending $1 trillion or raising taxes by more than one-half trillion dollars. The American people know that you cannot cut Medicare by over one-half trillion dollars without hurting seniors," said Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich.

"And, the American people know that you can't create an entirely new government entitlement program without exploding spending and the deficit."

Obama has said often that presidents of both parties have tried without success to achieve national health insurance, beginning with Theodore Roosevelt early in the 20th century.

The 44th president's quest to succeed where others have failed seemed at a dead end two months ago, when Republicans won a special election for a Massachusetts Senate seat, and with it, the votes to prevent a final vote.

But the White House, Pelosi and Reid soon came up with a rescue plan that required the House to approve the Senate-passed measure despite opposition to many of its provisions, then have both houses pass a fix-it measure incorporating numerous changes.

To pay for the changes, the legislation includes more than $400 billion in higher taxes over a decade, roughly half of it from a new Medicare payroll tax on individuals with incomes over $200,000 and couples over $250,000. A new excise tax on high-cost insurance policies was significantly scaled back in deference to complaints from organized labor.

In addition, the bills cut more than $500 billion from planned payments to hospitals, nursing homes, hospices and other providers that treat Medicare patients. An estimated $200 billion would reduce planned subsidies to insurance companies that offer a private alternative to traditional Medicare.

The insurance industry warned that seniors would face sharply higher premiums as a result, and the Congressional Budget Office said many would return to traditional Medicare as a result.

The subsidies are higher than those for seniors on traditional Medicare, a difference that critics complain is wasteful, but insurance industry officials argue goes into expanded benefits.

Associated Press writers Jim Kuhnhenn and Erica Werner contributed to this report.
Posted on Sun, Mar. 21, 2010 10:53 AM

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/03/21/1827476/democrats-predict-health-bill.html#ixzz0isCpaJt9

Jamie Oliver's food revolution: the beginning

JAMIE OLIVER: Humor and Personality Cook Up Success for Food Revolution
Series Ending Changed to Accommodate High Profile Endorsement?

By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Entertainment Editor

Huntington, WV (HNN) – When British celebrity Chef Jamie Oliver first came to Huntington, nerves peaked. Did Jamie have honest (at least in front of the camera) motives for teaching city residents to cook more fresh foods? Would his network ‘reality’ series inflame Appalachian stereotypes or those that naturally follow the statistic on unhealthiest and fattest city in America?

The showing at the Jeslyn Performing Arts Center spotlighted local personnel who had roles in the reality series, such as The DAWG’s Rod Willis, high school students, Rod’s on air pal, Rocky, and ‘lunch ladies’ at Central Elementary School.

Rod challenged Chef Oliver ‘on the air.’ He becomes in the first two episodes the chief antagonist of Jamie. In hindsight, he expressed issues with the Chef’s personality, but applauds the program’s healthy cooking intentions.

After antagonizing Jamie over eating too much lettuce, Rod bet him he could not find 1,000 people in Huntington to volunteer to learn how to cook.

“It came up spontaneously,” Willis explained prior to the premiere. “I really didn’t think he would get 1,000 people to go through his kitchen. Of course, he ultimately won and I am the 1,000th one that went through.”

Reflecting back on the shooting of the six episode ABC mini-series, Willis said, “I should have been a little more receptive to the [nutritious] things he was talking about and a little more cruel to him. I don’t think Jamie Oliver should be the one to tell us how to live our lives. After all, this guy is a rich, British bastard.”

Willis admitted the ‘fattest city’ and ‘unhealthiest city’ designations are “something we already knew. I think it’s more personal responsibility. Jamie brought light on it’s basically up to you to take [eating habits] to heart. If you want to live healthy, that’s up to you to take those matters to heart.”

HNN: How much of the show was choreographed?

ROD: So you are asking me if reality TV is REAL? Eighty percent is real and unscripted. Twenty percent, they do plan. They don’t walk in to a place; they have to make preparations to be at certain places. The Governor will not show up randomly. You will not walk into a radio station randomly, you have to make contacts. It was real to an extinct; he message is real. But, I don’t think it should have been Jamie doing this.

HNN: Is it fair to say that like even news and documentaries, the shots and dramatic arcs are in place on many reality shows

ROD: There is a lot of reality in it. Jamie taught me one thing when we were doing the episodes: Go ahead and be yourself, if you want to say sh--, go ahead and say it. They will cut it out anyway. Be yourself and you will be ok. Jamie did it himself. He enlightened me on that.

On the show’s more serious combating obesity and unhealthy eating, the morning disc jockey revealed that Oliver taught him “if you cannot pronounce or you do not know what is in the ingredients when you read those, don’t eat it. If you [see] dye number six, and you don’t know what Dye #6 is, don’t eat it.”

Although caught amongst several venues at the same time, Huntington Mayor Kim Wolfe attended the screening, leaving shortly before the first segment ended. Responding to a quick, ‘was it up to promised expectations,’ the Mayor gave a smile and a big thumbs up.

Most of those watching had strongly affirmative responses.

Dr. Leo Fleckenstein, a retired dentist now a volunteer dentist and dental director at Ebenezer, seized the opportunity for a few ‘dental’ wisecracks such as, “I’ve been in your mouth lot of times,” to radio listeners of the remote broadcast. After viewing the first episode, the dentist told HNN, “ Jamie Oliver has one great sense of humor. It was good. It did not portray us all that badly either,”

Originally, Kendra Kelley had strong concerns about whether the show would depict the city and its people in a favorable way.

“I think we are just about like any other city. It shows us the brass bones of what every city has. He’s trying to help us fix it, “ Ms. Kelley said.

Marisa Clayton, one of the teens participating in the production, said it was “I thought it was amazing; it was really cool.” She confirmed that the chef’s production company lived up to their word in how the people in the series would be portrayed.

“He put it in a positive way. There’s no negativity towards the city. I think the first episode brought out he was not here to make fun of us,” Clayton said.

However, Rev. Samuel Moore, an educator and minister, still had reservations after the first episode.

“I had [an advance] heads up that it was not very flattering. It pretty much lived up to its billing. I’m not going to pass judgment right away; it’s trying to build a television audience. I’m going to give it a chance,” Rev. Moore said.

He understood, though, that Oliver portrayed the situation in an “urgent crisis” mode, which is often necessary to motivate change. Moore agreed with a laugh about an “unscripted script.”

Ebenezer Medical Outreach director Yvonne Jones told another reporter while multitasking prior to the showing that the series portrays the Huntington community in an increasingly positive light AFTER the episodes that tackle the delicate obesity topics.

Watching the episodes, Oliver himself does most of the ‘personable acting’ seemingly allowing locals to play straight and serious off his sharp, edgy and succulent one-liners. He’s expectedly traumatized by the processed school food including breakfast pizza, but he’s part clown and part mentor in conveying his fresh cooking message through often outlandish bits. (Kudos to the Jamie as a pea and Jamie dumping a year’s worth of fat from the garbage truck.)

Meanwhile, an informed source told HNN that the final episode had to be re-edited. Favorable buzz attracted a high profile cameo. Let’s describe her as an attractive woman of color with two daughters, who never wears hosiery and has stirred discussion by her fondness for bare arm dresses. Oh, and, she lives in a big white house that does not have a picket fence.

And, seriously, let’s think about the realty show terminology. As an experienced film writer/critic, my thoughts steer toward the production techniques of a documentary. Relying upon factual materials, a documentary filmmaker usually scripts his film and plans shots, editing techniques, and narration. In addition, think about the amount of preparation necessary for lighting, camera movement, and sight angles for film and television, even a stand up by a news reporter.

With that said, let me suggest: How much ‘reality’ is real and how much is at least partially planned, orchestrated for dramatic arcs, and correct flubs with a ‘take two’ even on spontaneous events?

Now, without blowing the reality ‘Santa Claus’ live on tape myth, contemplate the filmmaking equipment mechanics, then, ask, what portions of any reality show ‘go with the flow’ and what portions are, let’s say, shot from comedic or dramatic ‘outlines?’