Democrats carried the votes with slim majorities. No Republicans voted in favor of the health care legislation.
Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, who along with other members of the House has spent all week working on final language for the legislation, issued the following statement:
“I have worked for over a year to ensure that the people of the Northern Mariana Islands benefit from health care reform legislation.
“The battle is not over. Republicans tried over and over to block the bill in the House. And Republican will make every effort to kill the bill in the Senate.
“But tonight we succeeded in sending a bill to the Senate that triples the amount of Medicaid funding going to the Northern Marianas over the next ten years.
“We have succeeded in sending a bill to the U.S. Senate giving the commonwealth governor the option to set up an insurance exchange — with subsidies for those people who are too well off to be covered by Medicaid, but not well off enough to cover the full cost of insurance premiums.
“These are huge wins for the people of the Northern Mariana Islands.
“I am most grateful to President Obama, who met with me and other representatives of the U.S. territories in the last few weeks, and made these benefits possible. And I am most grateful to the Democratic leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives, who made sure the people of the Northern Marianas were included — and then made sure that health care passed tonight.”
Two health care bills passed the House. The first was H.R. 3590, legislation the Senate passed on Christmas eve that many members of the House of Representatives found deficient. That bill contains virtually nothing for the territories.
The second bill the House passed, H.R. 4872, fixes and adds to H.R. 3590. The tripling of Medicaid funding for the Northern Marianas — about $158 million over ten years, and access to an insurance exchange are among the improvements that benefit the Northern Mariana Islands.
The Senate now must pass H.R. 4872, and is expected to begin debate this week. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nv., presented the House membership with written assurance of Senate action during a Democratic caucus meeting held on Saturday. Reid’s action helped firm up the Democratic votes for health care that took place in the House on Sunday.
