“People had an appreciation it was a crossing of the Rubicon,” recounted U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., Monday in the aftermath of Sunday’s historic votes by the U.S. House of Representatives on health care reform.

Just to be clear, crossing the Rubicon (a river in Italy that Caesar waded across with his army enroute to Rome) means, according to Webster’s, “to commit oneself to a definite act or decision, take a final, irrevocable step.”

It was a tense day, Welch said, because people — even politicians who regardless of party talk a lot about the need to make change — are apprehensive when it comes to actually doing it.

There was plenty of uncertainty about the vote count, too, Welch noted. “It wasn’t clear what the outcome would be until midday.”

Perhaps there shouldn’t have been any doubt about the vote since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised several weeks ago that she would deliver health care reform one way or another.

“We will go through the gate. If the gate is closed, we will go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we will pole vault in. If that doesn’t work, we will parachute in. But we are going to get health care reform passed,“ Pelosi said Jan. 28.

Welch took to the House floor Sunday afternoon to tell his colleagues that the choice in the upcoming vote was “simple.”

“Will Congress today choose on behalf of the American people who elected us to build a health care system where every American has access to health care and where every American shares in the responsibility of paying for it?” he posed. “Will we today free ourselves from the shackles of the broken status quo?”

After the vote, Welch said the mood changed — at least for the 219 who won. “People felt quite relieved and positive.”

Welch said President Barack Obama set the stage for the vote with the pep talk he gave the Democratic caucus about those moments in life when a decision makes a difference. “He was appealing to members of Congress and the American people to have the courage to take on the challenge of making the health care system work for everybody.”

Perhaps it’s not surprising that Welch described the phone calls and e-mail his office has received Monday as positive. He, no doubt, has colleagues whose constituents aren’t happy.

Welch highlighted the benefits of health care legislation: it reforms health insurance, strengthens Medicare, ensures 96 percent of Americans will have health coverage and promises significant deficit reduction. Check out more details at Welch’s Web site.

Its shortcomings, he said, include no public health insurance option, no mandated price negotiations on prescription drugs and no antitrust provisions. For those changes, he promised, “We will fight another day.”

- Nancy Remsen

Labels: health care reform, Rep. Peter Welch

Gov. Jim Douglas said Monday he was focused on implementation of the national health care reform package.

“We don’t know exactly what it is yet,” he noted, since the Senate has yet to vote on the reconciliation package that became the compromise between the U.S. House and Senate. Douglas said Republican senators “although they don’t have the numbers, they believe they may have some parliamentary arguments” to make about the pending reconciliation bill.

Still, Douglas has asked his health care cabinet to analyze the pair of health care bills to identify starting dates. He also wants his staff to determine if the Vermont Legislature needs to make any law changes in response to the federal measures and if there are grants or funds offered that the state ought to seek.

As chairman of the National Governors Association, Douglas said he will work on making the implementation as smooth as possible for states — not an easy task.

“A number of governors and legislators are going to be resistant,” Douglas predicted.

“I still regret the lack of partisanship,” Douglas said. As a result of the divisive politics associated with the bill, implementing it, he said, “is going to be a less smooth process.”

- Nancy Remsen

Labels: Gov. Jim Douglas, health care reform

The University of Vermont faculty union, United Academics, is hosting a forum on single-payer health care, 7-8:45 p.m. Wednesday, Memorial Lounge, Waterman Building,UVM. Their goal, they say, is to goose proposed legislation on the issue in Montpelier.

- Terri Hallenbeck

Labels: health care reform, politics Vermont Legislature

The White House will offer live-streaming of Thursday’s health care forum — an event that will either produce frustrating political drama or a miraculous bi-partisan compromise. C-Span also is scheduled to broadcast the event. Go here around 10 a.m. for the "show."

Members of Vermont Interfaith Action have already planned a group lunch so they can watch this “day of reckoning for health care reform” over pizza.

The group, which represents a broad spectrum of religious congregations, has worked on health care reform locally and nationally for several years. I picture this lunch a bit like Monday night football with a group of friends cheering their favorite team – but probably without the brew.

— Nancy Remsen

Labels: health care reform, Vemront Interfaith Action

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT, is trumpeting the fact he picked up an important ally in his effort to peel away the insurance industry’s anti-trust immunity – which dates back to a 1945 law.

Leahy’s ally: President Barack Obama. In his Saturday radio address, Obama said he supported a review of the exemption.

The focus of Obama’s radio address was an attack on the insurance industry for standing in the way of health care reform. “ The insurance industry is rolling out the big guns and breaking open their massive war chest – to marshal their forces for one last fight to save the status quo.”

Leahy introduced a bill last month -- the Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act -- which would repeal what Leahy’s says is an “unjustifiable immunity enjoyed by health insurers and medical malpractice insurers.

He took testimony on the bill last week. The House Judiciary Committee apparently is on the same page and could vote on a measure Wednesday.

Leahy said he hoped senators would have an opportunity “to vote up or down on whether to continue this unreasonable exemption. ... Ending this cozy exemption is another way to strengthen consumer choice through a competitive marketplace.”

I’m sure that could be uncomfortable for some senators, which would be why Leahy would like an isolated vote on the question, wouldn't it?

-- Nancy Remsen

Labels: health care reform, President Barack Obama, Sen. Patrick Leahy