Affordable Health Care for America Act

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See also: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on 7 November 2009, the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962) is the highly controversial health care reform bill supported by the Democratic Party (United States), intended to provide universal health care. The 1990-page bill contains portions of drafts developed by three House committees, Education and Labor, Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce.

It was superseded by the final Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law in March 2010.

Voting

The vote was 220 in favor to 215 opposed. Passage was urged by President Barack Obama and the House Democratic leadership, with intense opposition from the Republican leadership. One Republican, Anh Cao, voted against the bill, after the Democrats had the needed votes. His district is 75% Democratic.

Democrats voting against

Thirty-nine Democrats voted against it, including 24 members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition. 31 of the 39 have districts that were won by Senator John McCain (R-AZ), in the 2008 presidential election. Of the fourteen first-term Democrats in opposition represent districts that were previously Republican and are considered vulnerable in 2010. Geographically, 22 lawmakers from southern states formed the largest opposition bloc. [1]

Eight of these (*) voted for the final bill in March 2010. Five Democrats who voted for this bill voted against the 2010 legislation: Michael Arcuri, Marion Berry, Daniel Lipinski, Stephen Lynch and Zack Space.

Abortion issue

Most antiabortion Democrats moved to support the bill, after an amendment, approved 240 to 194, with 64 Democrats in favor, which explicitly prevented the public plan from paying for abortions, and also would blocked people who received insurance subsidies from purchasing private plans that covered abortion. Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Michigan) led the pro-amendment forces.[2]

References

  1. "House Democrats Who Voted Against the Health Care Bill", New York Times, 8 November 2009
  2. Lori Montgomery and Shailagh Murray (8 November 2009), "House Democrats pass health-care bill", Washington Post