Health-care Reform Bill Passes Both Houses
Monday, March 22, 2010
By: Hannah Cary

Reconciliation "Fix" Sent to the Senate

On Sunday, March 21, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Senate version of health-care reform. "The Autism Society is pleased that Congress took a step in the right direction late last night," said Lee Grossman, President and CEO of the Autism Society, "but we have much more work to do to ensure that families affected by autism have access to appropriate services and supports."

After more than a year of debate, the bill passed 219 to 212 and was signed into law Tuesday, March 23. This bill, which passed the Senate in late December, includes the following provisions for people with autism:

• Insurers would be prohibited from excluding coverage based on pre-existing conditions;
• Insurers would be prevented from selectively refusing to renew coverage;
• Insurers would no longer be able to charge people different premiums based on their health status, gender or occupation;
• A standardized annual out-of-pocket spending limit would be established so that no family would face bankruptcy due to medical expenses;
• Annual and lifetime benefit caps would be prohibited;
• Mental health would be covered;
• “Habilitative” and “maintenance services” would be covered; and
• Coverage of “behavioral health treatments,” such as ABA therapy, would be required.

Another bill, titled the Reconciliation Act of 2010 (H.R. 4872), also passed in the House on Sunday, with 220 votes to 211. This reconciliation package was included as a compromise to many Members of the House, and fixes issues in the Senate bill that had kept many Members from passing the Senate bill earlier. This bill will be voted on in the Senate by budget reconciliation rules, which only require 51 votes and would prevent a filibuster.

On Thursday, March 25, a bill containing important tax and Medicare changes to the $938 billion health-care overhaul law passed the U.S. Senate, and will now return to the House for a second vote before heading to the White House. By a 56-43 vote, the Senate passed the supplemental bill, which rewrites several provisions of a broader health-care overhaul signed into law earlier this week. The bill of fixes was already passed by the U.S. House on Sunday, but it will require another House vote because Senate Republicans successfully argued that two minor student-loan provisions should be struck from the measure.

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