Q. What is National Health Care reform? Will this help Guam’s families?
A. It’s an effort by President Obama and the Democrats in Congress to make health care affordable and available to every American. If we are included it will mean millions of federal dollars a year coming into our island to pay for medical treatments and prescriptions?
Q. Why were we excluded from the Senate Finance committee’s reform bill?
A. Because they estimated that to include us it would cost an additional $20B over the next 10 years?
Q. Is there anything we can do?
A. YES!!! That is just 1 bill! There is another bill going through Senator Harkins, Health care committee, that includes the Territories and he promised in person to me that he would fight to keep us in his bill, so we need to make sure that all of the other Democratic members of Congress support us.
Q. 1 Senate bill includes us and 1 doesn’t, now what?
A. When the HC committee passes their Bill the 2 Senate committees will negotiate a merger of the 2 bills which will then be voted on, on the floor.
Q. So there will be a different Bill in the House and the Senate, which one goes to the President?
A. Once both the House and Senate pass bills then they will get together and negotiate the differences which will result in one bill being sent to the President for Signature.
