House Lets States Do Single-Payer Healthcare
By David Swanson
On Friday morning at 9:45 a.m. ET in the House Committee on Education and Labor, the committee members voted 25 to 19 to pass Congressman Dennis Kucinich's amendment to the healthcare reform bill. This amendment, if it survives the full House, the Senate, the conference, and the President, will not alter the federal legislation except to allow states to create single-payer healthcare systems if they choose to. If this change to the bill makes news, it will pass the Senate, because there is no legitimate argument against it, and the support for it is bipartisan.
The committee members voted in order of seniority through all the Democrats and then the Republicans, returning to allow those who passed or were not present on the first round or the second round to cast their vote. No members switched their votes from yes to no or vice versa, during the voting, but several passed and then voted after hearing their colleagues vote. In the final count, 25 voted Yes, 19 No, 2 left their vote as "Pass," and 3 were not there or did not respond at all.
On the first go round, these Democrats voted Yes: Woolsey, Kucinich, Holt, Grijalva, Loebsack, and Fudge. Not nearly enough, but then came the Republicans, not a single one of whom has supported single-payer healthcare, but many of whom apparently respect states' rights: Kline, Petri, McKeon, Souder, Ehlers, Biggert, Platts, Wilson, McMorris Rogers, Price, and Guthrie. That gave us 17 votes going into round two. Among Democrats, we then picked up Payne, Scott, Shea Porter, and Polis. Among Republicans, Hoekstra and Castle joined in. We had 23 votes moving into round three. Two more Democrats, Tierney and Tonko, brought the total to 25.
Then you have the list of members who voted for the arguably unconstitutional step of banning states from providing their citizens with healthcare, a step for which no legitimate case has been made, but which the health insurance companies strongly favor. First and foremost was Committee Chairman George Miller who led the voting with a resounding "No." He was joined on the first round by Democrats Kildee, Andrews, Hinojosa, McCarthy, Bishop, Sestak, Altmire, Hare, Courtney, Sablan, and Titus, and Republicans McClintock, Hunter, Roe, and Thompson. On the second round Democrats Davis and Hirono voted No, along with Republican Cassidy. On the third round, no more Nos were added. Not voting yes or no were: Wu, Clarke, Pierluisi, Chu, and Bishop of Utah.
There are major campaigns with a good chance of passing single-payer healthcare if Congress permits it in the following states: Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, Ohio, Colorado, and Massachusetts.
ROLL CALL ON VOTE TO ALLOW STATES TO CREATE SINGLE-PAYER HEALTHCARE
9:40 a.m. ET, July 17, 2009
House Committee on Education and Labor
Y=Allow states to provide their citizens healthcare if they choose
N=Ban states
PASS= Pass
--= Not present or no response
25 to 19 to 2
Democrats
* George Miller, Chairman (CA-07) N
* Dale E. Kildee (MI-05) N
* Donald M. Payne (NJ-10) PASS, Y
* Robert E. Andrews (NJ-01) N
* Robert C. Scott (VA-03) --, Y
* Lynn C. Woolsey (CA-06) Y
* Rubén Hinojosa (TX-15) N
* Carolyn McCarthy (NY-04) N
* John F. Tierney (MA-06) --, --, Y
* Dennis J. Kucinich (OH-10) Y
* David Wu (OR-01) PASS, PASS
* Rush D. Holt (NJ-12) Y
* Susan A. Davis (CA-53) PASS, N
* Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07) Y
* Timothy H. Bishop (NY-01) N
* Joe Sestak (PA-07) N
* Dave Loebsack (IA-02) Y
* Mazie Hirono (HI-02) PASS, N
* Jason Altmire (PA-04) N
* Phil Hare (IL-17) N
* Yvette Clarke (NY-11) --, --
* Joe Courtney (CT-02) N
* Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01) --, Y
* Marcia Fudge (OH-11) Y
* Jared Polis (CO-2) PASS, Y
* Paul Tonko (NY-21) --, --, Y
* Pedro Pierluisi (PR) --, --
* Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (Northern Mariana Islands) N
* Dina Titus (NV-3) N
* Judy Chu PASS, PASS,
Republicans
* John Kline, Ranking Member (MN-02) Y
* Thomas E. Petri (WI-06) Y
* Howard "Buck" McKeon (CA-25) Y
* Peter Hoekstra (MI-02) PASS, Y
* Michael N. Castle (DE-At Large) PASS, Y
* Mark E. Souder (IN-03) Y
* Vernon J. Ehlers (MI-03) Y
* Judy Biggert (IL-13) Y
* Todd Russell Platts (PA-19) Y
* Joe Wilson (SC-02) Y
* Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-05) Y
* Tom Price (GA-06) Y
* Rob Bishop (UT-01) --, --
* Brett Guthrie (KY-2) Y
* Bill Cassidy (LA-6) PASS, N
* Tom McClintock (CA-4) N
* Duncan D. Hunter (CA-52) N
* Phil Roe (TN-1) N
* Glenn "GT" Thompson (PA-05) N
UPDATE: final vote tally was 27, 19, 2. We picked up Wu (who switched his pass vote) and Clarke (who showed up late but has been consistent in her support).
- davidswanson's blog
- Login or register to post comments
- Send to friend
Join us & contribute
Proud members of the Democratic Party
Copyright 2006 Democrats.com. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy
Resolution HR 676
MarthaME
Passed with a 25-19 vote. I was informed of this, this morning while making calls to the Congressmen.
Martha McLaughlin
Thanks for calling
Don't stop now
We have to keep it in the bill!
Digital Health Records
As a veteran and an American citizen who has enjoyed the laws created by our
Constitution, I have and do believe in this document as the basis for all or
laws, and it is our laws which create our society.
Digitizing and placing our medical records on the internet goes against the
Constitutional amendment of our "right to privacy," the 4th Amendment. It is
un-Constitutional to vote for anything that breaks the laws set forth by our
Constitution without a Constitutional Amendment, it is illegal, and as a citizen
of the United States of America, bound and protected by that Constitution, it is
my duty to plead that you do not vote to weaken our 4th amendment further than
it has already been weakened by the illegal and un-Constitutional FISA law
signed into law on July 10th, 2008.
It is disheartening to know that our law makers are completely uneducated on
the intent of the Constitution. The oath each Senator, Congressman, and the
president is to defend the Constitution, and not the people, the people are
defended by our Constitution and our laws which are based on the Constitution.
By weakening the laws which have framed our society since 1776, we are all
weakened and the blood lost providing our freedom will be for nothing.
As lawmakers and elected officials, you do not have the right to decide to
place my private information into the hands of those who may not have the desire
to protect my "rights". We all know that the illegal spying on American
citizens is continuing, and that justice is being forsaken. What will be used against the people when it starts
reading our medical history? We are no longer protected by the Constitution
because the government thinks its responsibility is to commerce, and such belief
is nothing more than Fascism.
Congress, the Senate, and the president do not have the right to put our
medical records online, and as a citizen in good standing, a veteran with an
honorable discharge from service, I am demanding that my privacy be protected by
the oath you have taken to defend the Constitution. Do not allow the invasion into our medical records for any reason, fascist or not.
Gravity Boy
Digital Health Records
You are correct the Constitution has been trampled on and the citizens of this country must speak out. As a health care worker I see wasteful spending all the time. I believe what the government is trying to do is eliminate wasteful costs by stopping repeat testing and getting information to the Doctor who needs to provide Patient care. Perhaps each person should carry a digital copy of their medical records and tests. That way the information is only given to the provides you want to have it. Also the law requiring emergency rooms to treat regardless of ability to pay is killing us. People with out insurance clogg up our ER's with colds, scrapes, and minor ailments that should be seen by a Physician's office. The ER is then kept from saving people with major injuries, accident victims, and heart atacks. Who pays for these AUTO TREAT PATIENTS, we do the tax payers and the insurance holders that pay high premiums and medical care costs. As for single payer I do not believe it will work. There is no medicaid system in this country that works and as for Medicare it is a joke. I think it should be a state insurance option that people can purchase different levels of coverage to fit there individual needs. I STRESS PURCHASE. I already pay for health care through my work place why should I pay for others with my taxes. If businesses can contract with the insurance company why can't the government. Who will decide what is needed medical coverage and what is not? Who will set the pricing for medical care? It should not be the government as they can't even provide good VA coverage for our souldiers. My grandfather was on the second landing @ normandy and he could not get proper care for the shcapnal in his body nor for his lung disease. He had no choice but to seek maedical care out side the VA. VA recipiants are forced to get certain services with only one CONTRACTED provider. That is not freedom of choice. In closing I will say that I am well aware that Medecare and Social security will not exsist when I am ready to Retire.
On the Constitution and Medical Records
Thanks for writing this, Gravity Boy, and giving us all something to seriously consider.
Since you've thought about this, I wonder if you have an alternative recommendations to suggest?
We're a highly mobile society, it's often possible that patients are put at risk because of incorrect medications, or incompatible medication prescriptions, patients may be seen by multiple doctors, - my point is that there are seemingly attractive benefits for medical record computerization. (Please don't take that to mean that I am disagreeing with you or being argumentative. I'm trying to be objective about the tradeoffs by identifying a few of them.)