New York's two senators voted Saturday to send a health care bill on for debate in efforts to reform the system and assure medical treatment for more Americans.
Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand were among the 58 Democrats who voted to advance the proposed legislation to full debate on the Senate floor. A 60-vote majority required for approval was met by 58 Democratic senators voting ``yes,'' plus the votes of two independents. Thirty-nine Republicans voted ``no.''
However, some Senate Democrats sparred with each other Sunday, The Associated Press reported, with moderates threatening to scuttle legislation if their demands weren't met and the more liberal members warning their party leaders not to bend.
The dispute among Democrats hints of a rowdy floor debate next month on legislation that would extend health care coverage to about 31 million Americans, the AP said. Republicans have made it clear they aren't supporting the bill.
Gillibrand and Schumer have stated support for the measure.
``The Senate bill focuses on cutting the waste, fraud and duplication in our health care system and will therefore preserve Medicare and private insurance for much longer than any other bill,'' Schumer said in a prepared statement Sunday.
The bill would assure that 94 percent of Americans would be covered and reduce the deficit by $127 billion in the first 10 years and by $650 billion in the next 10 years, he said.
Ensuring that every American has access to quality, affordable health care coverage is a national priority, Gillibrand said on her website. The Senate bill will help reform the nation's ``broken system,'' she said.
More than 47 million Americans are uninsured, Gillibrand said, and health care costs are crippling businesses.
``In 2009, it is unconscionable that in the world's wealthiest nation, people are being dropped and turned away from coverage because of pre-existing conditions, denied preventative care, or that families are just one illness away from bankruptcy,'' she said. ``It's time now to finally pass comprehensive health care reform legislation."
Gillibrand's voice-mail service in Washington was full and not accepting any messages Sunday.
According to an AP report, the Senate bill would require most Americans to carry insurance and provide subsidies to those who couldn't afford it. Large companies could incur costs if they did not provide coverage to their work force. The insurance industry would come under significant new regulation under the bill, which would first ease and then ban the practice of denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions.
Congressional budget analysts put the legislation's cost at $979 billion over a decade and say it would reduce deficits during the same period.
A major sticking point is a provision that would allow Americans to buy a federal-run insurance plan if their state allows it. Moderates say they worry the so-called public option will become a huge, costly entitlement program and that other requirements in the bill could cripple businesses, the AP reported.
The House approved its version of the bill earlier this month on a near party-line vote of 220-215.
Schumer said he believes there are enough votes in the Senate to include a public-insurance option in the bill as long as states were allowed to opt out.
Sen. Ben Nelson, a conservative Nebraska Democrat, and three other moderate Democrats "" Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut "" agreed to open debate despite expressing reservations on the measure. Each of them has warned that they might not support the final bill, the AP said.
"I don't want a big-government, Washington-run operation that would undermine the ... private insurance that 200 million Americans now have," Nelson said Sunday in an AP article.
Independent Sens. Bernard Sanders, from Vermont, and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut joined the Democrats in voting to advance the measure.
