Health Care Reform and Colorectal Cancer

There are a number of provisions in both the House and Senate health care reform bills that will affect colorectal cancer patients. Click here to see a chart outlining and comparing these provisions.

This month both the House and Senate took historic votes and moved a couple of steps closer to getting the President a final health care reform bill to sign, but there is a long road ahead before Congress has a final bill that will be ready for the President. On November 7, the House passed the Affordable Health Care for America Act by a vote of 220-215. And, on November 21, by a party-line vote of 60-39 the Senate voted to move forward with debate on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The Senate is expected to begin floor debate and consideration of amendments the week of November 30 and continue debate until right before Christmas. A vote on final passage of the health reform bill is expected in the Senate sometime between December 18-23.

If the Senate passes a health reform bill, that bill will have to be combined with the House bill into a “conference report.” Both the House and Senate will then have to vote again on the conference report. House and Senate leadership has indicated that they would like to consider a final health care reform conference report the second or third week of January in order to send a bill to the President before the State of the Union address.

C3 will continue to work with legislators to advocate for improvements to the pending bills that will provide all Americans with the access to care that is critical to preventing, treating and beating colorectal cancer. See the document below for a summary and comparison of some of the provisions in the House and Senate bills that C3 thinks are important for people living with colorectal cancer.

Please feel free to share your thoughts with us by leaving comments below.

Comparison of House and Senate Health Reform Bills 11 24 09 – FINAL

This news article was originally posted on November 24th, 2009 and was accurate at the time of publication. Since then, information may have changed or links may now be outdated. Please call our Answer Line 1-877-427-2111 for the latest information, or talk to your doctor before making any medical decisions.

Posted by Catherine Knowles on November 24th, 2009
Tags: Health Care Reform, House of Representatives, President Obama, Senate