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Hare touts benefits of House health care bill
Originally Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2009, 8:23 pm
Last Updated: Nov. 12, 2009, 9:00 pm
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By Brandy Donaldson, bdonaldson@qconline.com
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What eventually emerges from the Senate could be starkly different, but U.S. Rep. Phil Hare, D-Rock Island, already has begun measuring what the recently passed Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962) could mean for his constituents if signed into law. Rep. Hare was among the 220 congressmen who narrowly pushed H.R. 3962 through the House last week. The bill was crafted to help "ordinary people" and "will go a long way toward helping people in my congressional district," he said Thursday. Based on the House bill, 364,000 residents in the 17th Congressional District would see improvements in their employer-based insurance coverage, Rep. Hare said, citing statistics from the Congressional Budget Office. Federal credits to help families pay for health care coverage would be available for up to 184,000 households. And 39,000 uninsured residents would be provided with coverage. Additionally, 14,600 small businesses in the district would have the opportunity to obtain affordable health care for their employees, he added. The congressman asserted all of this will be paid for with no deficit spending, by using the money saved through eliminating fraud, abuse and waste and through a tax on individuals with incomes of more than $1 million. That tax would affect 290 households in his district, Rep. Hare said. Before it is sent to the president, H.R. 3962 will have to be reconciled with whatever bill emerges from the Senate. Thus far, Senate discussions include a public option for universal health care and the taxing of high-end health benefits to help pay for it. Rep. Hare said he's for the public option, but will lobby against taxing health care benefits. "My hope and my prayer is that the Senate will move on this bill and by Christmas they will have a bill on the president's desk that we can be proud of," he said. "I don't want to rush the Senate or tell them how to run their business, but I think they need to work fast and hammer out a bill that will work for all Americans." Rep. Hare said he hopes the Senate will strike down the last minute Stupak-Pitts Amendment to H.R. 3962, which stipulates no government funds can be used to pay for abortions, except in the cases of rape and incest or when a mother's life is threatened and prohibits recipients of the federal subsidy from using the credit to purchase any private insurance plan that covers abortion. Rep. Hare said he is in favor of not using federal dollars to cover abortions outside of rape, incest and life-threatening situations, but voted against the amendment because it prevents women from purchasing the insurance of their choice. He doesn't want to take away a woman's right to seek an abortion at her own expense or the expense of her private insurer, he added. Rep. Hare has called H.R. 3962 the most significant piece of legislation of his career. "I understand the concerns," he said. "But this is not a government takeover of the health care system. It is the government giving people the opportunity to stop going into foreclosure and bankruptcy because they don't have insurance." 
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