Welch: Health care legislation is historic

BENNINGTON -- Vermont Rep. Peter Welch is hailing as historic the U.S. House's weekend approval of health care reform legislation.

"Congress, for the first time, has turned its back on the status quo," Welch said in a conference call with reporters Monday. "It has been an enormous struggle for the House."

The Affordable Health Care for America Act passed the House late Saturday night by a 220-215 margin. After months of fiery town hall meetings and bitter, partisan debate, the bill received support from just one Republican. Nearly 40 Democrats defected.

Welch said he and other proponents of the bill helped in the "whipping" process to secure enough votes. According to Welch, there were fewer than 200 votes in favor of passing reform just two weeks ago.

Despite passage, the vote tally is "quite distressing," Welch said. Congress passed Social Security, Medicare and the Voting Rights Act with mostly Democratic support. But, Welch said, a substantial amount of Republicans "knew we had to move America ahead." This time, Republican leaders made a political calculation to oppose reform, Welch said.

Nonetheless, the House passed bill that will improve the lot of many Americans. Most importantly, the bill will provide health insurance for an additional 36 million Americans, according to Welch. It will also prevent insurance companies from denying coverage to Americans because of preexisting medical conditions, and allow children to remain on their parents' policy until the age of 27.

Citing the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, Welch said the House bill will shrink the country's deficit.

"They are categorically of the opinion that this legislation will reduce the deficit over ten years," he said.

In Vermont, Welch said 156,000 Vermont households will receive help paying for health coverage under the House bill. An additional 24,000 uninsured Vermonters will have access to coverage, he said.

Welch said he does have some reservations about the bill, however. The biggest problem is that the public option is not strong enough, he said. The bill passed in the House calls for public option rates to be negotiated. Welch said he would like to see those rates tied to Medicare.

An amendment passed by the House Saturday also prevents public funds from covering abortions. Welch said many pro-choice leaders in the House decided to "fight another day," however, and not derail reform.

"I strongly opposed it. I worked against it, I spoke against it on the floor," Welch said. "I'm hopeful that at the end of the day we're going to make certain that we protect a woman's right to choose."

The push by Democrats for reform is expected to be even more arduous moving forward, however.

Continued progress is in doubt as the focus shifts to the U.S. Senate. For the moment, reaching the 60 votes needed to break a Republican filibuster seems to be out of reach.

A key senator that Democrats are relying on said Sunday that he plans to prevent any reform legislation from reaching a final vote in the Senate if it includes a public option, or government run health insurance plan. The position taken by independent Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman "is problematic," and "a bit of an impediment to progress," Welch said.

Vermont's independent Sen. Bernie Sanders said Monday he strongly disagrees with Lieberman's position. Sanders would not comment on whether it will halt the Senate's progress, however.

"We'll leave that to (Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid). That's what he's paid the big bucks for," Sanders said in a telephone interview. "Politics is politics and people say things."

Sanders, a member of the Senate Health and Education Committee, said he supported that committee's version of health reform. He would not have supported the Senate Finance Committee's version, however, because it does not include a public option. Reid and other Senate leaders are now working to reconcile the differing bills for a full Senate vote.

Sanders said he will not comment on how he plans to vote until a bill is put forth by leaders. "We really at this point don't know what's in the Senate bill," he said.

However, Sanders said he is looking for several elements in the Senate bill, including a provision to allow states to run a single-payer system, a strong public option and a significant increase in funding for community health centers to allow for a "revolution in primary health care."

"I want to see those all over America," Sanders said.

Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy expressed optimism Monday.

"Early on, some of the opponents of reform tried to poison the debate with deceptive charges. Ironically, the longer this has gone on, the more time the American people have had to see through many of those misstatements," Leahy said. "Reform is difficult, and reforming something as personal as health care is harder still. But I believe the Senate will rise to the occasion."

Leahy said he is seeking a bill that will protect states like Vermont, which have used Medicaid funds to expand insurance programs, from losing federal funding under reform legislation. He is also looking to boost anti-fraud efforts within Medicare and Medicaid and repeal the anti-trust exemption for insurance companies.

Contact Neal P. Goswami at ngoswami@benningtonbanner.com