If you have been waiting to hear why certain senators voted in favor of the healthcare bill, now one steps forward to explain his vote.
Senator Russ Feingold is quoted in a Wisconsin newspaper. He says he voted in favor of the bill to help protect people from health insurance abuses. He talks about one woman who beat a cancer diagnosis, but now cannot get any health insurer to cover her. Feingold says that will change:
Under the health care bill that passed the Senate, insurance companies are barred from denying or restricting coverage based on pre-existing conditions. Lifetime and annual insurance limits are eliminated, insurance companies are barred from charging women more than men for the same policy and Americans are guaranteed the ability to renew their insurance year after year.
The Senate bill does not address several major healthcare concerns. Senator Feingold says:
The bill is not perfect - far from it. It does not do as much as I would like to rein in health care spending, it does not permit prescription drug importation and it includes some indefensible provisions that result in unjustified windfalls for a few states, at taxpayer expense.
Senator Feingold says he is disappointed by these flaws, but the cost of doing nothing was too high.
Let us know what you think.
What should be included in a final healthcare bill once the House and Senate versions are reconciled?
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