Historic Showdown

A nearly one trillion dollar health care reform overhaul comes down to 216 votes in the House of Representatives. That is what Democrats need to pass reform and if they get those votes Sunday it will be by a razor thin margin.

President Obama stumped Friday for the biggest change in health and welfare policy since Medicare became law in 1965. He said, "We are going to make history. We are going to fix health care in America with your help." 

If history is made not a single House Republican will help write it, including Miami Republican Mario Diaz-Balart. He argued that paying for health care reform will mean cutting elsewhere. Diaz-Balart told me, "I cannot in good conscience accept cutting half a trillion dollars out of Medicare, a program that goes insolvent in 2017." 

Not so says Weston Democratic congresswoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. She argued, "No benefits at all in Medicare will be cut from these deductions. What we are doing is ending extra payments to Medicare Advantage insurance companies being plowed into things not providing benefits to Medicare beneficiaries." 

Policy and polarizing politics are now so intertwined it is hard –make that impossible—to tell who is right about the ultimate impact of health care reform, should it be approved.  Keep in mind that health care currently consumes about one of every six dollars in the U.S. economy. Getting reform right is vital. Democrats argue only comprehensive government regulated measures can do that job. Republicans say more modest, incremental steps could protect patients' rights and drive down premiums, perhaps through interstate competition between insurance carriers. 

Diaz-Balart blasts the mammoth bill now before Congress and what he is convinced will be a host of unintended consequences. He said, "They (Democrats) are saying don't talk details, don't talk about the issues, because frankly if you look at the details it will bankrupt the country, increase health insurance rates and raise taxes." 

Wasserman Schultz offers a sharply different take on what is at stake here. She said, "We are not going to be able to turn the economy around unless we cover the people in America who don't have health insurance, provide security and stability to those 85 percent of Americans who do, particularly small business owners who struggle everyday with premium increases. This is going to be a sea change for Americans because we're going to finally be able to make sure health care is a right, not a privilege. We are going to finally be able to end abusive insurance company practices and put patients and doctors in the driver's seat." 

You have heard all the arguments. Now it is time to see which side prevails on an issue that will have a direct impact on the health of Americans, and the fiscal health of the nation.