"We commend our colleagues in the Senate for this crucial vote, which brings health reform closer to reality than at any time in the past 70 years...Now that the Senate has cleared this critical legislation, we look forward to working with them and the White House to reconcile and further improve our bills. We are committed to producing a final bill that incorporates the best reforms for middle-class families, small businesses, seniors and our fiscal health, stays true to the values of our members and delivers on the changes the American people desperately need."

A few days before the final vote, President Obama signed into law H.R. 3326, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act. This is the appropriations bill with the added measure delaying a scheduled 21.2 percent reduction in Medicare's 2010 physician payments through February 28, 2010. The President commented briefly in support of H.R. 3590 after the successful vote on Christmas Eve (see DM 11141).


Later on Christmas Eve, Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton told the press after the bill's passage the Administration "felt very good. This health care reform has the major elements that the President wanted to make sure that it has. For people who don't have health insurance it helps them have access to affordable health insurance. It has significant historic health care reforms for the insurance industry. And so we've got two bills, one in the House, one in the Senate, they're 95 percent similar. We're going to be actively working to iron out the rest of the differences and get a bill passed and signed."

Various organizations have also expressed support for the bill. The AMA, which had earlier stated strong support for the bill released a statement from J. James Rohack, President: "The Senate took an historic vote to improve our nation's health care system by expanding coverage to millions of Americans and strengthening the private insurance market to better serve the patients who rely on it. The AMA supported passage of the bill because it contains a number of key improvements for our health care system, which currently is not working for far too many patients or the physicians who dedicate their lives to patient care."

The American Psychological Association commended the passage, in particular the inclusion of mental health and substance abuse services in all benefits plans, such as integration of psychological services with primary care and an extension of vital Medicare reimbursement for psychotherapy.

More Industry Headlines