WRAPUP 2-Obama picks up new support for health bill
* Healthcare reform push picks up convert in Kucinich
* House leaders push for weekend vote on final passage
* Catholic nuns urge House Democrats to pass Senate bill
(Adds quotes, letter from Catholic nuns, details)
By John Whitesides and Donna Smith
WASHINGTON, March 17 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama picked up support for healthcare reform on Wednesday from a former critic and from a group of Catholic nuns, who broke with bishops on the abortion issue and urged final passage of the Senate overhaul.
Representative Dennis Kucinich, one of the most liberal members of Congress and a supporter of nationalized healthcare, became the first House of Representatives Democrat to switch from "no" to "yes" on the overhaul as it nears a weekend vote.
"This is a defining moment for whether or not we'll have any opportunity to move off square one on healthcare," Kucinich said in announcing his switch two days after Obama lobbied him on an Air Force One flight to Kucinich's home state of Ohio.
The leaders of Catholic religious orders representing about 59,000 nuns urged Congress to pass the Senate healthcare bill, which has been opposed by the Conference of Catholic Bishops for not sufficiently restricting abortion coverage. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Take a Look on healthcare [ID:nHEALTH] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Despite false claims to the contrary, the Senate bill will not provide taxpayer funding for elective abortions," the letter to lawmakers said. "This is the real pro-life stance, and we as Catholics are all for it."
The new support was a boost for Democratic leaders scrambling to finish work on a final package of changes to the Senate's version of healthcare reform and line up the 216 House votes needed to pass it.
Kucinich, who voted against the reform bill for not being liberal enough when the House approved its version in November, said the weekend vote on the Senate's version of the bill would be very close.
"Even though I don't like the bill, I've made a decision to support it in the hope that we can move to a more comprehensive approach once this legislation is done," he told reporters.
Kucinich is the first of 37 House Democrats who voted against the overhaul in November to flip to the "yes" column, but Obama and House leaders are frantically searching for more as they try to round up the 216 votes needed for passage.
'A GOOD SIGN'
"That's a good sign," Obama told reporters in the Oval Office. Asked what he had told Kucinich, Obama said, "I told him 'thank you.'"
Kucinich, a former presidential candidate known for his strong liberal views, is unlikely to bring a lot of followers along with him as most of the Democratic opposition came from moderates.
But the letter from the Catholic nuns could help reel in a few of about a dozen anti-abortion rights House Democrats who have threatened to switch to "no" on the Senate bill because they say its ban on the use of federal funds for abortions is not strong enough.
Democratic Representative Dale Kildee, a staunch abortion rights opponent who voted for the House bill in November but was considered a possible "no" on the Senate bill, said he was satisfied the Senate's provision on abortion met his concerns.
"Voting for this bill in no way diminishes my pro-life voting record or undermines my beliefs," Kildee said.
As many as two dozen undeclared Democrats could decide the overhaul's fate and end a political brawl that has consumed the U.S. Congress for months and put a dent in Obama's personal approval ratings.
The overhaul would extend coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans and ban insurance practices like refusing coverage to those with pre-existing medical conditions.
Health insurer shares were mixed on Wednesday while the broader market rose slightly. The Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor index .HMO was up 0.5 percent and the S&P Managed Health Care index .GSPHMO dropped 0.4 percent.
Under the procedure planned for passing the overhaul, the House would vote this weekend on whether to approve the Senate's bill. The changes sought by Obama and House Democrats would move through a separate measure.
Republicans have criticized Democrats for considering using a complicated process to avoid a direct vote on the Senate-passed bill, which is unpopular with House Democrats. Instead, they would declare the Senate bill passed once the House votes to approve the changes.
"They want to hide what they're doing from the American people -- who they seem to view as an obstacle," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said.
The bill incorporating the House changes would then be approved by the 100-member Senate under budget reconciliation rules that require only a simple majority, bypassing the need for 60 votes to overcome Republican procedural hurdles.
House Democrats want assurances from the Senate that it will go ahead and approve the changes they are seeking, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was confident they would get those.
"They'll tell us what they think they can do and we'll let them know if that works for us. But I don't see it as a problem," Pelosi said.
(Additional reporting by Thomas Ferraro, Tabassum Zakaria and Steve Holland; editing by David Alexander and Eric Beech)
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Make easy access to essential health care for at least every citizen of USA, the foremost non-negotiable requirement for your support of any “health care reform” bill.
If a “health care reform” bill is passed now that does not ensure easy access to essential health care for every citizen of USA, then there is a great risk that decades from now we will still have the unacceptable scenario of having too many citizens of USA be unable to have easy access to essential health care.
If no “health care reform” bill is passed now, then it allows a decent chance that within 4 to 12 years a bill could pass that guarantees easy access to essential health care for at least every citizen of USA. Ensuring free or nominal cost access to essential health care to all who need it, should be the minimum ethical standard for our society. Whether this is done by ensuring that everyone has appropriate health insurance, or by socializing medical care, should be a secondary concern.
Based on a careful analysis of some summaries of the proposed health care reform bills, I find that the proposed bills fail to meet the aforementioned requirement (except for the poorest amongst us whose income is below 133% FPL). Allowing catastrophic insurances for those under 30, or insurances with greater than nominal amount co-payments, will likely result in too many people hesitating to seek health care when the seriousness of an illness is uncertain. In such a system, health care will continue to lean towards expensive treatments rather than moderate cost screenings, check-ups and preventive care. Penalizing uninsured people as low an amount as $750, without guaranteeing that an adequate health plan will be available for about that amount or less, could result in too many people choosing to remain uninsured.
The lack of guaranteed easy access to essential health care for all citizens of USA will keep me, and hopefully you too, from supporting the proposed bills. I do understand that many people with incomes below 133% FPL will benefit greatly from the proposed bills by becoming eligible for medicaid. I also understand that there are numerous desirable features in the proposed bills including novel approaches like co-op style health insurance plans and non-profit run health insurance plans. None of the desirable features, outweigh the significant flaws mentioned in this email. I hope you will voice my concerns on this issue, regardless of whether or not you decide to reject the proposed inadequate bills.
Healthy people will be better able to make the most of life for themselves and for the rest of society. I urge you to work towards passing legislation that ensures easy access to essential health care for at least every citizen of USA.
Sincerely,
Aouie
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