WASHINGTON–(ENEWSPF)–December 21, 2009. AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond released this statement following the Senate’s vote to move forward with health care reform. AARP designated this morning’s cloture vote on the manager’s amendment to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as an “AARP Key Vote.” The Association will record and report back to its members and the public how each Senator votes on the procedural measure that will allow the Senate to end debate and move towards a final up-or-down vote on the bill. LeaMond’s statement follows:
“This morning, the Senate voted to move forward with debate on health care reforms that will begin to bring needed relief to millions of Americans struggling with high costs and insurance company discrimination. The Senate bill protects the guaranteed benefits that people in Medicare rely on, and makes progress toward ending the rampant discriminatory tactics used by insurers to deny coverage to those who need it most.
“While we will continue to work with Senators to improve the bill to completely close the Medicare doughnut hole and crack down further on health insurer age discrimination, we applaud them for taking the next step toward enacting real health care reform.
“We look forward to the Senate passing its final bill and moving to the House-Senate conference committee where lawmakers can make the final improvements needed to enact health care reform that works for our members and all older Americans.”
AARP notified the 111th Congress that it was tracking roll call votes on key legislation important to its nearly 40 million members and reporting the outcomes of these votes back to its members and all older Americans at www.aarp.org/governmentwatch. AARP’s Government Watch is a one-stop online portal that will be tracking and publicizing every designated Key Vote on issues facing Americans age 50-plus. A “Key Vote Summary” highlighting votes on these issues will be published at the end of each congressional session.
Source: aarp.org
