Senate Approves “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act”
Thursday morning, by a vote of 60 to 39, the Senate approved an amended version of H.R. 3590, the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.”
The vote on final passage of this bill followed three and a half weeks of Senate floor debate during which approximately 30 amendments and motions were considered and voted upon. The most important amendment was a manager’s amendment proposed last weekend by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). After 60 senators – 58 Democrats and two Independents – indicated their support for the changes proposed by this amendment, this cleared the path for Senate passage of this legislation.
Prior to passing the bill this morning, the Senate voted on three separate cloture motions on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. By approving these cloture motions with 60 votes, supporters of the bill were successful in overcoming the filibuster that was mounted by the bill’s opponents.
The manager’s amendment makes significant changes to the previous version of the Senate bill. It removes the government-run plan and instead directs the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to contract with health insurers to offer “multi-state plans” through the proposed exchanges. Other notable provisions of the manager’s amendment address medical loss ratio (MLR) requirements, the bill’s premium tax, the individual coverage requirement, cost containment issues, patient protection provisions, disclosure requirements for plans, and new requirements for appeals of coverage determinations and claims.
Looking forward, congressional leaders will be working over the next month to resolve the differences between the Senate and House bills, with the goal of sending a final bill to the President’s desk by late January. As of this writing, it appears that these negotiations will be held informally and that an official conference committee may not be appointed.
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