HealthCareForAmericaNow

Winning quality, affordable health care for all is about more than having the right principles. You need a plan to win. Here's how Health Care for America Now is going to do it, step by step.

 

The Lay of the Land

First, let's take a look at the structure of Congress. There are specific committees in both the House and the Senate that have jurisdiction over health care reform, and therefore will play a big role in the process. The members of these committees - their Democratic chairs, the ranking Republican members, and general membership - will all be key players. This explains our focus - both now and in the future - on these Members of Congress.

Mouse over the graphic below to view the members of each of the primary committees of jurisdiction in both the House and the Senate, as well as an outline of the basic process by which a health care bill may become law. (Note: Committee assignments have not been finalized for the 111th Congress, so some of the information below will change.)

(Print a version of this chart for easy reference)

 

Steps To Win

Broadly speaking, the legislative process moves in identifiable steps. Though the specifics, timing, and sequencing will change (such as skipping a subcommittee or full committee), we know generally what is going to happen and what we will need to do at each step to make health care reform a reality. The key at this point is to prepare for possible legislative scenarios rather than be too focused on predicting what route the legislation will ultimately move through.

Below is a chart showing where we are in the process (highlighted in red), where we've been, and where we are going. Some of these steps may ultimately overlap or the House or Senate may move through the process first, with the other legislative body following. Click on each step for more detailed information on what may take place in each step and what we need to do to move quality, affordable health care for all forward.

• Steps To Win
• Initial proposals
• Hearings / draft legislation
  
• Committees pass legislation
• Congress passes legislation
• House & Senate bills reconciled & passed
• President signs bill into law

 

Completed Steps

Click on each completed step to see where we've been and what we've accomplished towards our goal of winning quality, affordable health care for all.

Step 1: Initial Proposals

Step 2: Committees Hold Hearings/Draft Legislation

 

CURRENT STEP - Step 3: Committees Pass Legislation

Because health reform legislation is so complicated, five different committees – three in the House and two in the Senate – are entitled to have some say in the legislation. Each House and Senate committee in charge of different parts of health care reform has been holding hearings and drafting legislation. Committees consider their first draft, usually called the Chairman’s mark, in a process called "mark-up." During these committee meetings, members propose changes to the Chairman’s mark (amendments) and then vote on final approval in their committee. The committees may consider hundreds on amendments in the process.

Once each committee completes its process, the two Senate committees will combine their bills and work out any differences to bring one bill to the Senate floor. The same process will be happening among the committees working in the House. The committees involved in health care reform have pledged to work together to minimize differences and make this process easier. 

 

Where We Are Now

In the Senate, the HELP Committee is currently marking up a health reform bill (full text, pdf) that includes a strong public health insurance option, and voting on amendments. (Click here for Health Care for America Now's statement on the HELP bill.) HELP is expected to vote a bill out of their committee by mid-July. The Finance Committee is expected to begin the markup process in mid-July. After both committees pass bills, they will be combined together to be moved to the Senate floor for amendments by the whole Senate and a full vote.

In the House, the Chairmen of the three committees of juristiction - Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor - have released a combined "tri-committee" outline of their health care legislation [pdf]. The draft meets all of Health Care for America Now's principles. All three committees held hearings on the bill draft in June and each will mark-up the package in early July. Like in the Senate, the committees will combine their bills into one package and take it to the House floor for a vote.

If all goes as planned, the Senate and the House will each approve their separate bills by the end of July. Then in August, when Congress is not in session, House and Senate leaders will begin work to resolve the differences between the bills.  When they agree to one bill, it goes back to the Senate and House for final votes, then to president Obama for his signature. 

 

What You Can Do To Help

We will need your help to encourage Members of Congress to vote for bills and amendments that meet the Obama/Health Care for America Now principles for reform, and dissuade Members of Congress from compromising on core principles or voting for a bill that is inconsistent with the Obama/Health Care for America Now vision for health care reform. Phone calls, office visits, faxes, emails, and demonstrations around the country are proven tools to communicate to Members of Congress the importance we place on enacting a true guarantee of quality, affordable health care we can all count on.

Calling your congressional representatives is by far the most important thing you can do. Members take calls from constituents very seriously, much more seriously than faxes or emails. Please take a moment and call, even if your Members of Congress are already supporting our efforts.

• Call your Senators in support of a public option - Call your Senators in support of a strong public health insurance option, not "co-ops" or other proposals that won’t do all the things a strong public option can.
• Ask your Senators about the public option - Ask your Senators where they stand on the public health insurance option and what kind of public option they stand for.
• Sign the petition for a public option - Senators Leahy, Durbin, and Schumer have created a petition you can sign in support of a public health insurance option.
• Call your Members of Congress - This is by far the most important thing you can do. Members take calls from constituents very seriously, much more seriously than faxes or emails. Please take a moment and call, even if your Members of Congress are already supporting our efforts.
• Spread the word about our campaign - When President Bill Clinton tried to pass health care reform back in 1993, he didn't have a grassroots army behind him to hold Congress' feet to the fire and fend off opponents. That critical mistake eventually doomed his efforts. This time will be different, but we need your help to recruit your friends and family. Please send a message to anyone you know who supports President Obama and his promises of health care reform and ask them to join our campaign.
• Volunteer in your state - Health Care for America Now has grassroots offices in 42 states and grassroots supporters in all 50. Get involved in the effort in your state and in your community to help us pressure Congress and win quality, affordable health care for all in 2009.

 

Future Steps

Click on each upcoming step to learn more about it and what you can help do when the time comes.

Step 4: House and Senate Pass Legislation

Step 5: House and Senate Bills Reconciled and Passed

Step 6: President Signs the Bill into Law

 

(This page will be updated periodically. It was last revised on July 2nd, 2009.)