missouri news

Columbia Missourian: Where your legislators stand on the health care debate, 11/6/09
Here's a breakdown of some of the key issues and where Missouri senators and representatives stand on pieces of health care reform.

Kansas City Star: House approves historic health care legislation, 11/7/09
The vote was razor close: 220-215. Thirty-nine Democrats, including Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, voted against the measure, while only one Republican, Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao of New Orleans, voted for it.

national news

Los Angeles Times: Health care reform bill wouldn't end higher premiums based on age, 11/9/09
The question is what the so-called age-rating ratio will be. Older adults would be charged at least double, which critics call discrimination. Insurance firms say it's necessary for a solvent system.

New York Times: Sweeping health care plan passes house, 11/8/09
After a daylong clash with Republicans over what has been a Democratic goal for decades, lawmakers voted 220 to 215 to approve a plan that would cost $1.1 trillion over 10 years.

Wall Street Journal: Parsing the House health bill, 11/8/09
With the House health bill passed, Congress moves a step closer to making the biggest changes to the health system in more than four decades. Here's a look at what the bill would mean for various groups.

Los Angeles Times: New system would be in place in 2013, 11/8/09
The House bill would provide interim temporary coverage. Also, questions about yearly out-of-pocket limits for subsidies, the federal COBRA subsidy, and more.

The latest news is available at
www.CoverMissouri.org

cover missouri feature

An Historic Moment
Health reform bill passes House

This weekend the U.S. House of Representatives passed a health reform bill that would expand health coverage to 36 million Americans. The bill would also provide subsidies to low- and middle-income families to make health coverage more affordable.

The next step in the legislative process is for the Senate to debate a bill being prepared by the Senate Majority Leader. This bill combines elements from both the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and the Finance Committee.

An October issue brief, Health Insurance Reforms, in the journal Health Affairs, explores some of the issues that continue to be central to the health reform debate. This brief provides a summary on the goals for health reform and highlights similarities between the bills in Congress. For example, all of the bills:

Create a health insurance exchange;
Provide subsidies for low- and middle-income people to pay for health insurance; and
End exclusions for pre-existing conditions.

The brief also includes an overview of the health care system and discusses key differences between the bills.

Learn more:

Read Health Insurance Reforms

View a Side-by-Side Comparison of Major Health Care Reform Proposals

Read a Short Summary of H.R. 3962

Cover Missouri is a project of the Missouri Foundation for Health. Learn more here.