Senate Says Health Plan Will Cover Another 31 Million

The Democratic leaders from the Senate released their proposal for the health care bill on Wednesday. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, said that imposed new regulations on insurers would help to extend coverage to 31 million people who do not have any benefits and it will add benefits to Medicare. The bill will cost $848 billion over a ten year span, but it would help to reduce the original projected budget deficits by $130 billion over ten years. The costs would be offset by new taxes and other revenue than by reduction in Medicare. The Democrats are confident that they will have the votes necessary to pass the bill. The bill needs all the Democratic votes and the 2 independents votes. The Republicans are still ready to fight the bill all the way. The name of the bill is called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Though the Senate bill is similar to the House bill there are some differences. For one the Senate bill "would increase the Medicare payroll tax on high-income people and impose a new excise tax on high-cos "Cadillac health plans'". Both bills would have a voluntary federal program to provide long-term health care. Twenty four million people would still be uninsured in 2019, one third of them would be illegal immigrants. Under the bill people will be required to have health insurance and if they don't than they can be fined.

In my opinion there should be no health care bill. I hope that the Senate doesn't pass it. If the bill is passed than my generation will have many problems in the future regarding healthcare. The amount that the government wants to spend on the bill is way too much. Even with their proposed healthcare plan there will still be millions of people who are uninsured in a couple of years. It isn't worth it. Not to mention the fact that the bill, if passed, wouldn't be put into affect until after Obamas first four years. That means that if he isn't reelected than the new president would be responsible for carrying out something that he or she may not want or believe in.