Florida’s senators: Room for improvement in health care reform bill
Both of Florida’s senators say there’s plenty of room for improvement to the health care reform bill being brought to debate by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Republican Sen. George LeMieux said Thursday he’s still trying to figure out everything the 2,074-page bill does.
“I’m going to be one of those sitting up all night on the Senate floor trying to read this bill and figure out all that’s in it,” he told Scripps Howard. “But what I do know is that it cuts Medicare by $500 billion, increases taxes by $500 billion and does nothing to reduce the cost of health care.”
Noting that 4 million Floridians lack health insurance, LeMieux said, “We all agree there are things that need to be done, but this is the wrong path, especially in terms of taking money from health care for seniors.”
Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson said in a statement issued by his Washington office that “regardless of where anyone stands on specifics, most folks agree the current system can be unfair and too costly and it needs to be fixed. We can’t afford to sit by and do nothing anymore.
“There are good elements to the bill Senator Reid unveiled. It will provide affordable coverage for millions of uninsured Americans, prevents insurance companies from dropping folks who get sick, and denying coverage for pre-existing conditions. The legislation will also reduce the deficit.”
LeMieux vowed, “We’re going to take as much time on the floor as we need to improve this bill. There are ways to do this without so much government. Republicans will come in with amendments as honest brokers, but the Democrats have to be ready to work with us.”
Nelson also said he will “work to improve it (the health bill) on the Senate floor, particularly by trying to force drug companies to lower prices for prescriptions covered under Medicare.”
Nelson has been one of several vocal Democrats who are accusing drug companies of bumping up prices in the past year in order to create phantom savings that support the industry’s pledge to trim $8 billion a year in drug costs as health reforms kick in.
He said he plans to resume efforts to trim the amount the government pays for drugs for about six million seniors under the Medicare prescription drug program through an amendment to the main reform plan.
Watch the video related to health care reform bill
December 20, 2008 3:11 am 
By TomStar81, December 20, 2008 @ 4:10 am
Yes you are talking about TORT reform. the Democrats do not want to touch the Lawyers. it seems the Lawyers are in the democrats pocket.*
By Tracy Turnblad, December 20, 2008 @ 4:52 am
First of all, Obama wants to make insurance more available to all and change the system so that it is cheaper. He also wants change so that the insurance companies find it harder to get out of paying for treatment. The system he is proposing looks similar to that which works in Holland and Switzerland where private companies are involved in providing insurance.
Second, of course universal health-cover sucks. That is why we in Western Europe have it. We think, hmm, our healthcare system sucks. I know, lets keep it. I guess that is the same with Japan and Canada as well.
Third, Obama campaigned on reforming the healthcare system. He said he wanted to make insurance more available and he was elected by the American people to do this.
FACT – the US has higher death rates for kids both for kids aged under one and those under five than western European countries with universal health coverage.
FACT – American insurance companies push up prices and work to stop paying out claims on those they cover.
FACT – the USA spends more on healthcare PER PERSON than any other nation on the planet.
That means that a dead American four year old would have had a better chance of life if they were born in Canada, France, Cuba, Germany, Japan etc, all of which have universal health coverage.
Last of all if you do not like the policies that Obama was elected to bring in, he can always be voted out of office in 2012.
By URL Shortener, December 20, 2008 @ 4:04 am
I guess that’d be almost as good as the military jailing everyone. We need someone to recover all the money these politicians have stolen from US ! doughboy
By Youtube Downloader, December 20, 2008 @ 4:46 am
Democrats currently control Congress, (the Senate and the House of Representatives), as well as the WH.
MANY voters are looking forward to voting a LOT of folks OUT in 2010 and also looking forward to voting in 2012!!!
By Anonymous, December 20, 2008 @ 5:43 am
Thank you for this video!!!
By The Conservative Resistance, December 20, 2008 @ 6:42 pm
Under any Democrat President in history, the same M.O. emerges.
The Democrats "identify" a "crisis" and whip the people up into a frenzy about it. They proclaim themselves the carriers of the elixir that will heroically save all mankind from this "crisis.'' When Republicans seek to oppose the spending it will take for this elixir, they are automatically called hate mongers and obstructionists.
Clinton tried it with school lunch menus. He whipped that whole thing into some kind of "crisis." The Democrats wanted to raise the program by 10% and the Republicans wanted to raise it by 7%. That got reported in the media as a 3% CUT by Republicans. Only when a Democrat is President could an INCREASE be reported as a CUT. Just to make Republicans look bad, but too many people buy into the bullshit.
Al Gore, who wasn't even President, tried it with global warming and it didn't work. Today, it's health care. What'll it be tomorrow? The whole "world is ending in 2012" thing, or what?
By URL Shortener, December 22, 2008 @ 1:08 am
I don’t know why the republicans don’t call on the Military to take over Washington to protect Our Constitution and jail all those who are stealing Our Country right from under US ! Like obama, pelosi, frank, dodd, boxer, waters etc and all those who are riding on that bus. doughboy
By Short, Fast, and Loud, December 23, 2008 @ 12:00 am
Obama does not have a bill. He has only given guidelines to what he wants. His last address made it more specific.
The bills in congress are not healthcare bills. They are health coverage bills. The government is trying to take control of a large portion of our economy. They are trying to make it so the government is a single payer source (I know i will get thumbs down for this, but follow hr3200 to its logical conclusion).
The current bills want to cover everybody in the US (Illegals too, there is nothing in these bills to prevent illegals from being covered. Amendments to ensure citizenship were tabled)
The federal government wants to punish you for not having insurance (they will get your money one way or another)
The government wants to regulate what care you will get. (When the system becomes overblaoted as any government system does, they will have 2 options increase taxes or ration care)
I know that there are a lot of people that will disagree with this. If they actually read the bills, and follow to there logical conclusions, in 10 years we will be a whole lot worse of than we are now. So doing nothing would actually be cheaper.
Reform must actually deal with the underlaying problems. HR 320o does not. Obama gave lip service to 1 of them.
By skinnyblink7, December 23, 2008 @ 7:02 am
the new york times has an interactive feature which is actually very clear to understand. check it out.