After 25 straight days of debate, by a vote of 60-39, today the Senate approved the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
In January, the House and Senate will begin the difficult task of reconciling the differences between the bills they have passed.
There are a number of provisions in both the House-passed and Senate-passed health care reform bills that will affect colorectal cancer patients. Click here to see a chart outlining and comparing these provisions.
As expected, a little after 1am this morning, the Senate voted 60-40 on party lines to advance a revised health care reform bill introduced Saturday morning by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
All 58 Democrats and 2 independents voted to approve the first of three crucial procedural motions the Senate will consider before moving to a vote on final passage of the bill.
This afternoon, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an analysis of the manager’s amendment that Senator Reid filed this morning.
Roughly 31 million Americans would receive coverage under the legislation.
CBO said that the final legislation, will cost $871 billion over the next 10 years and reduce the deficit by $132 billion over the same period.
This morning, Senator Reid introduced a manager’s amendment to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The 383 page manager’s amendment includes the deals and compromises needed to secure 60 votes on final passage, with many of the provisions targeted to satisfy the demands of individual senators.
Senator Ben Nelson (NE), the final Democratic holdout on health care, announced this morning that he will support the Senate health care reform bill.
After three days of general debate, the Senate voted on four amendments to its health care reform bill today. The Senate will continue with debate on additional amendments this evening.
As the Senate moves forward with consideration of additional amendments, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is planning on offering an amendment requiring that all third-party payers cover routine patient care costs incurred by patients enrolled in clinical trials. The amendment will apply to all phases of clinical trials for cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.
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