House passes health system reform legislation

AMA HSR Bulletin, Nov 7, 2009 -- Late this evening, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 3962, the "Affordable Health Care for America Act," by a vote of 220-215. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the legislation would raise the percentage of legal, non-elderly American residents with insurance coverage from the current 83 percent to 96 percent. It also includes insurance market reforms that would eliminate exclusions for pre-existing conditions and lifetime limits on total health care spending, and it would provide subsidies for low-income Americans to help them purchase coverage in a health insurance exchange.

The legislation was supported by the AMA and a number of other national physician organizations, including the American Academy of Dermatology, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Ophthalmology, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Physicians, American College of Surgeons, American Osteopathic Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Society of Anesthesiologists, American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons, American Thoracic Society, National Medical Association and Medical Group Management Association. AARP also supported the bill.