Senate Vote Sets Stage for Health Care Debate After Thanksgiving

November 24, 2009

On Saturday, the U.S. Senate voted 60-39 to begin debate on health care reform legislation after the Thanksgiving holiday break. While the vote is an important step forward for reform, it is only the beginning. Weeks of debate lie ahead in the Senate, with additional procedural hurdles to surmount. Read more about the Senate bill here.

Saturday's vote in the Senate came two weeks after the U.S. House of Representatives' historic passage of its health care reform bill on November 7. Read a summary of the House bill here. It is likely that House and Senate negotiators will eventually work out a compromise plan to send to President Obama.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities also has resources on health care reform online, including analyses of the House and Senate bills.

Reforms are needed in Pennsylvania, where over the course of the past decade, the state has seen a steep decline in the number of people receiving health care through an employer policy. Only Michigan saw a bigger decline between 2000-01 and 2007-08.

The historically strong link between jobs and health care is eroding in Pennsylvania and across the nation, adding further urgency for Congress to reform the health care system. Read more details in a recent report on declining rates of employment-based health care in Pennsylvania and across the nation, which was jointly released by PBPC and the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute.