Southland's Lipinski the only Illinois Democrat to vote against health reform bill

The only Southland congressman to vote against the landmark health care reform bill passed Sunday evening was Dan Lipinski (D-3rd), who put out this statement.

“My decision to vote against the Senate health care bill is the result of months of studying our broken health care system, developing and analyzing various proposals for reform, studying legislation, and listening closely to my constituents. ...

“As I have said many times, I strongly believe reform is needed to lower soaring health care costs and make insurance coverage more affordable and accessible for individuals and working families. But reform must be done right. The Senate bill does make a number of improvements to our health care system, including expanding access and reforming health insurance by doing such things as immediately banning discrimination based on pre-existing conditions for children, prohibiting lifetime coverage limits, and banning rescissions. Unfortunately, the bill also contains a number of serious flaws, and many of the good aspects could have been done without passing this massive bill. The Senate bill does not do enough to lower the skyrocketing cost of health care, cuts more than $400 billion from Medicare, is not fiscally sustainable over the long term, and breaks with the status quo by providing federal funding for abortion and abortion coverage. This bill was also marred by backroom deals that benefit pharmaceutical companies and other special interests. In the final analysis, I cannot support such a deeply flawed bill."

As a diabetic, Lipinski's decision not to support the Democratic plan has irritated others in his party who claim that were he not a congressman, Lipinski wouldn't be able to get health insurance on his own.

Every other Illinois Democrat voted for the legislation, while every Republican from Illinois voted against.

Lipinski goes on to highlight his concerns about the failure of the bill to affect insurance premiums for more than two-thirds of working Americans and the possibility of local health-care providers losing so much money as to become unprofitable.

“As the Congressional Budget Office has stated, the Senate health care bill would do little to affect the cost of premiums for those who currently get their health care through large employers. Since 70 percent of Americans who are not on Medicare are in this group, this bill fails to sufficiently reduce costs for the majority of working families in the Third District. The Senate bill also does not include several specific measures that were in the House bill that could increase competition. These include the elimination of the health insurance industry’s anti-trust exemption and a provision to begin to require health care providers to disclose their prices.

“I am also concerned that the bill’s more than $400 billion in Medicare cuts could have ramifications for seniors in my district. For instance, the Senate bill reduces Medicare reimbursements to providers – such as hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and home health agencies – by over $200 billion. The Chief Actuary of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has stated that these cuts would likely result in roughly 20 percent of providers becoming unprofitable; this could lead to providers refusing to take care of seniors on Medicare. And if these cuts are going to be made to Medicare, the money should at least be put in the Medicare Trust Fund instead of being spent elsewhere as this bill does. In addition, unlike the House bill, the Senate bill does not allow the government to negotiate for lower drug prices, which I have long supported."

Democrats on the far left have vowed to introduce new bills to get the provisions they wanted that aren't in this bill. And Republicans have vowed to get this overturned. So the debate, really, is far from settled.

Reaction on Twitter by Southlanders, via the SavvyTweets page, was immediate and varied.

mikeproper: RT @aleagueofherown: Welcome to the civilized world, America. #hcr

LauraKoni: I think he cared about this one the mostRT @KevinKuhle: Kansas, Villanova and Healthcare bill - Obama is 1 for 3 this weekend....

electadam (this is Adam Kinzinger, running for Congress to unseat Democrat Debbie Halvorson) Could Nancy Pelosi be elected in Illinois' 11th District? I don't see see a difference between Nancy Pelosi or Debbie Halvorson

LauraKoni Best part of Obama press conference is Biden didn't speak. Will healthcare fix foot in mouth disease? I know many people suffer from this

ranzeb45 What a historic day. Immediate Benefits: http://bit.ly/d3KCvF #HCR Proof that hard work and determination pays off.

Dennis Robaugh can be reached at dennis@southlandsavvy.com