It is hailed as a historic victory, but what does the bill really amount to?
By David Cairns

After years of intense debate in the legislature, across the nation
and throughout the media, Barack Obama's healthcare reforms, which
have divided the US as nothing has since the Vietnam war, are to
become law.

A vote last night in the House of Representatives will take the
country closer than it has ever been to universal healthcare and
spells historic victory for the President and his Democrats - while
Republicans believe it will lead to their opponents' downfall at the
polls.

"This is what change looks like," said Obama late last night at the
White House, Vice President Joe Biden at his side. "Tonight, at a time
when the pundits said it was no longer possible, we rose above the
weight of our politics.

"This legislation will not fix everything that ails our healthcare
system, but it moves us decisively in the right direction," he added.

In a few hours' time, the President is expected to sign the bill into
law. The bill was passed by 219 votes to 212, with every Republican
voting against it – and 34 Democrats, some of whom feared it as a
vote-loser. When the ballot hit the 216 needed to ensure their
victory, Democrats hugged each other, cheered and chanted Obama's
campaign slogan: "Yes we can!"

What will the bill do?The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,
which will cost $940bn over 10 years, will bring healthcare to 32m
more of the USA's poorest people, taking coverage across the country
to 95 per cent.

Its main provisions are to make health insurance almost mandatory,
targeting individuals and employers; to vastly increase the threshold
that determines who is eligible for financial healthcare support from
the state; to reduce the price of drugs available to them and to
prevent insurers from refusing to cover people with pre-existing
medical conditions.

How are the American public reacting?As the bill came closer to law
over the weekend, thousands of protesters gathered in Washington DC to
heckle congressmen. Some hurled racist and otherwise derogatory
remarks at African-American members including one of the 1960s civil
rights veterans, John Lewis. A congressman was spat on, and another
was calleda "faggot".

It is no exaggeration to say the reforms have split America. While the
anti-Obama 'Tea Party movement' (some say it is less a movement and
more a Republican-orchestrated campaign) might still have come into
being with or without the reforms, they have provided a focus for it -
and for all Obama's opponents. The Republicans believe their staunch
opposition to reform will hand them power at this year's mid-term
elections, though Democrats argue that once the bill is law it would
be political suicide for anybody to attempt to withdraw it. And the
bill will certainly silence critics of Obama as a 'do nothing
President'.

Is the bill now certain to become law?Yes, it is - but a second bill,
containing amendments to the first, still has to be passed. It's
thought it easily will be, because of a deal between Democrats in the
US's two legislatures – the lower 'House of Representatives' (or
'House') and the upper 'Senate'. But Republican voices have already
been raised in complaint that this deal is "unconstitutional".

Last night's vote in the House was on a version of the healthcare
reform bill already passed by the senators, who have made changes that
Democrats in the House don't like. They agreed not to argue about
those changes when Senate leader (and Democrat) Harry Reid promised
that if they instead submitted a second bill with their amendments,
his senators would pass that unopposed. This second "reconciliation"
bill will go before the Senate later this week and could be wrangled
over for weeks – but will almost certainly become law.

What about truck-driving reform-killer Scott Brown?Many observers
thought Obama's healthcare reforms bill had been scuppered by the
shock election victory in January of Republican former male model and
self-proclaimed truck driver Scott Brown. Brown took the veteran
uber-Democrat Ted Kennedy's seat in the Senate on the latter's death,
busting the Democrats' majority of 60 out of 100 seats. To pass
without incident, a Senate bill needs a 60 to 40 majority, not 51 to
49, so this looked disastrous for Obama.

Obama's great escape was via the reconciliation bill deal. By couching
their amendments to the healthcare bill in a separate,
'reconciliation' bill, the Democrats found a procedural loophole: this
type of bill only needs a simple (51 to 49) majority to pass, and
their 59 Senators should manage that without upset.

Has the bill been watered down?As the BBC's North America editor, Mark
Mardell, writes in his blog today: "Many liberals feel there have been
so many compromises the bill is hardly worth it." Some wanted to go
much further, instituting an NHS-style system. But Obama's supporters
say he has achieved reforms which eluded Presidents including Teddy
Roosevelt, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton.

In January, the Democrats almost withdrew the bill in its current
form. After the news came in that they had lost their 60-seat Senate
majority, some in the party wanted to amend the bill to a safer
version more likely to be passed. But, after some internal wrangling,
the idea was rejected and they pushed ahead with the bill as it stood.

The bill's final victory was only assured after Obama cut a deal with
anti-abortionist representatives, including a proviso that prevents
federal money being spent to "encourage" abortion. An exception was
made for forced or incestuous pregnancies.

--

Australia and Migration

source :
http://www.news.com.au/national/mass-migration-kills-aussie-culture-says-demographer-bob-birrell/story-e6frfkvr-1225844560248

TRADITIONS based on heritage, sporting culture and common language are
threatened by mass immigration, a leading demographer has warned.

Monash University population expert Dr Bob Birrell has said the huge
influx of people with few or no English skills had created social
problems in Melbourne suburbs such as Dandenong, Sunshine and
Broadmeadows and most major cities were feeling the population strain,
the Herald Sun reported.

"This is not a pretty picture," he said. "Social divisions are
becoming more obvious and geographically concentrated and certain
areas are being overlain by an ethnic identification."

Dr Birrell made the explosive comments in an article for Policy, a
magazine published by the Centre for Independent Studies, a right-wing
think tank.

In a plea to the Rudd Government to slash the current immigrant intake
of 180,000 a year, Dr Birrell warned that the predicted population of
35 million by 2050 would be a disaster for urban living and the
environment.

"One would have to wander deaf, dumb and blind through Australian
capital cities to not notice how urban congestion has already reduced
the quality of life," he said.

The intake dominated by people from non-English speaking backgrounds
was transforming Australia, Dr Birrell said. (Click to see the
Immigration department's statistics on migration and where migrants
have come from.)

"We are losing core elements of what was once shared. Almost all could
once aspire to a house and land ... and sharing a common language,
sporting culture and heritage," he said.

But mass migration was creating ethnic enclaves in suburbs with cheap
housing, and planning rules were forcing Australian-born "losers" and
non-English speaking background migrants to live in congested
neighbourhoods, "cheek by jowl".

Population target

Kevin Rudd has made it clear that he believes in a big Australia. In a
recent speech he declared that migration was "good for our national
security, good for our long-term prosperity, good in enhancing our
role in the region and the world".

But the Federal Opposition and the Greens said questions needed to be
asked about Australia's immigration plans.

Opposition immigration spokesman, Scott Morrison, told the ABC there
should be an inquiry into how many people the nation can support.

"It's about what the carrying capacity is," he said. "We need to get
that perspective from regional areas as well as metropolitan areas,
where issues of congestion and housing affordability are major
problems as well as public transport.

"What's more important, is the process for planning. For example, the
states and territories have no input into questions of immigration and
migration intakes but they're the ones at the end of the day that have
to service the needs that are created by it."

Greens Leader Bob Brown said there should be an independent national
inquiry into Australia's population target.

"So that politicians do have an idea of the carrying capacity of this
country, its infrastructure, its ability to deal with those quite
worrying projections of 35 million people by 2050," he said. "We've
got to do better than just say well let it happen."

Other leading academics have also questioned the challenge that mass
intake of migrants will pose.

In their book Australia's Immigration Revolution, Andrew Markus, James
Jupp and Peter McDonald agrue that while immigration "offers 'the most
immediate and simplest short term measure to deal with labour and
skills shortages" it also comes with serious questions about social
cohesion.

Prior to the 1950s 80 per cent of immigrants came from the United
Kingdom. Between the 50s and the 1960s migrants from continental
Europe became the majority.

After the abolition of the White Australia policy in the early 1970s
the mixture of migration changed again. Today, the largest proportion
of immigrants come from Asia and Oceania. China and India rival New
Zealand and Britian as the biggest source of immigrants.

"This is what change looks like", Obama said.

BARACK Obama has secured a huge political victory with the narrow passage today of a bill which will eventually guarantee health care for tens of millions of Americans.

Members of the House of Representatives have voted 219-212 to approve the Senate-passed legislation and were to move quickly to pass a package of changes sought by the President.

Mr Obama had postponed his trip to Australia, which had been planned for later this week, so that he could stay in Washington and see the package through the Congress. 

Tomorrow in Canberra, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott will face off in a debate on their own prescriptions for improving Australia's health system.  (Video)

In a special statement at the White House, Mr Obama hailed the vote as a victory for common sense and regular people.  He said it showed America was still capable of "big things".

Obama and "Kill The Bill"

Obama in battle to win over rebel Democrats ahead of healthcare vote | Mail Online

President Barack Obama is fighting to save his landmark healthcare reforms before tonight’s cliffhanger make-or-break vote on Capitol Hill.

Senior Democrats were counting on passing the president’s health bill by the narrowest of margins in the House of Representatives.

But the outcome was far from certain as a key group of rebel Democrats continued to hold out over fears that the £600 billion health package would open the door to allow government funding for abortions.
President Barack Obama holds a letter from an American in need of health insurance as he addresses the House Democratic caucus

'Do it for the American people': President Barack Obama holds a letter from someone in need of health insurance as he addresses the House Democratic caucus

House leaders tried to win them over with a promise that Mr Obama will issue an executive order affirming a ban on government cash being used for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.

But Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur said it wouldn’t be enough to secure the support of the ten Democrat rebels.


Thousands of angry protesters gathered outside the Capitol yesterday, hurling insults at lawmakers and chanting at Democrats to ‘kill the bill.’

Mr Obama shelved his planned trip to Australia and Indonesia to try and drive through the ‘historic’ reforms.
A few protesters stay outside the Capitol late in the evening as they chant 'Kill the Bill'

Opposition: A few protesters stay outside the Capitol late in the evening as they chant 'Kill the Bill'

Instead of flying out to Asia, the president has spent the weekend arm-twisting and cajoling to try and guarantee the support of wavering members of his own party.

The Democrats hold 253 seats in the 435-member House, compared to 178 for the Republicans and need 216 votes to prevail.

Many of the rebel Democrats complained the plan interferes too much with the existing primarily private healthcare system. Other said it didn’t go far enough.

Speaking to House Democrats last night, Mr Obama admitted it was going to be a ‘tough’ vote to pass the overhaul, which would expand healthcare to 32 million Americans who are currently uninsured.

‘Don’t do it for me, don’t do it for the Democratic Party, do it for the American people. They’re the ones looking for action right now.’

HEALTHCARE Q&A

Why is the vote so important to President Obama?

He has staked his reputation on overhauling America's healthcare system.

Why is it such a big deal?

The
1.6trillion healthcare industry accounts for one-sixth of the country's
GDP and if rising costs are not controlled it risks destroying the
economy.

Why do Republicans oppose the health reforms?

They resent government intervention in the private insurance dominated system. They argue that reforms will make healthcare 'more bureaucratic and expensive'.

Is there any government healthcare in the U.S.?

There is no universal healthcare coverage and it is generally up to 
individuals
to get health insurance. But there are federally funded programmes for
the elderly and the poor through Medicaid and Medicare.

What changes are being proposed?

The bill favours tougher regulations on insurers, makes it mandatory 
for individuals to have health coverage, offers subsidies for the less 
well-paid, cuts waste and sets up insurance exchanges for those who do 
not have insurance from their employers. It should help 32million 
people currently without health insurance get coverage.

Why are some Democrats opposing the plan?

Most of the Democrat rebels represent more conservative areas and they 
fear that by voting in favour of the bill they will incur the wrath of 
their
constituents. Some oppose it on religious grounds because they believe
it could open the door for the government to fund abortions.

Obama in battle to win over rebel Democrats ahead of healthcare vote | Mail Online

I know dailymail.co.uk is not a website for serious issues such as politics. But, I put the source here because the article is easy to digest.

Barack Obama is on the verge of a historic victory in his crusade to overhaul America's health care system.

Democrat leaders confidently predicted they had enough support to pass the President's £600billion health plan in two make-or-break votes on Capitol Hill.

The rocky passage of the bill, coming after a thwarted mutiny by rank-and-file Democrats, was seen in Washington as one of the most significant legislative triumphs in decades.

It could be a defining moment for Mr Obama who made health reform his top domestic priority, setting off a tumultuous debate that deeply divided the country.

The divisions were underlined when thousands of protesters chanted 'kill the bill' outside the Capitol building.

Some shouted the 'n-word' at Congressman John Lewis, a black pioneer of civil rights who was nearly beaten to death during a march for equality in the 1960s. Congressman Barney Frank, who is openly gay, was also harangued.

But barring any last minute setbacks, Democrat whips in the House of Representatives were sure they had secured the 216 votes they needed.

Mr Obama cancelled a trip to Australia and Indonesia to lead the arm-twisting and cajoling that carried on right up until a few hours before the rare Sunday congressional session.

Eventually, a key group of Democrats who opposed the bill because they claimed it could open the way for state-funded abortions relented and said they would vote in favour.