Enzi’s HIMMA Bill Goes Down in Senate Defeat
May 15, 2006
Big congratulations are in order to the NASW advocacy network and the tireless participants in chapter offices around the country. Your assistance in sending thousands of e-mails and phone calls from social workers has defeated the Enzi bill – the Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act (HIMMA, S.1955). The bill went down in defeat Thursday night on the Senate floor in a close and rather bitterly divided vote. The Senate leadership needed 60 votes for a cloture measure to end the Democrats’ filibuster on the bill. However, thanks to your efforts, the bill failed by a vote of 55-43. One Republican, Senator Lincoln Chaffee (RI), voted against HIMMA, while two Democrats, Senators Ben Nelson (NE) and Mary Landrieu (LA), voted for it. Senators Rockefeller (WV) and Specter (PA) did not vote. If your Senators voted against cloture, please take a moment to send them a thank you e-mail by clicking here. You can see how your Senators voted here.
HIMMA became one of social workers’ highest stakes Capitol Hill fights on health insurance in years. This bill was a disaster in waiting for social workers and the clients we serve. It would have rolled back social worker state provider mandate laws and repealed state mental health parity laws and other mental health coverage mandates. Virtually all state insurance mandates and consumer protection laws would have been severely undermined by this sweeping and regressive legislation. NASW worked in coalition with consumers and other health providers to defeat the bill. In the days leading up to the vote, our coalition’s toll free number to the Capitol was flooded with more than 21,000 calls and thousands of e-mails. Your efforts, combined with our network of national and state organizations lobbying feverishly against this bill, made all the difference in this fight.
However, our opponents have not given up their fight for HIMMA and bare bones association health plans. Senator Enzi has already announced his intention to bring a revised bill back to the Senate, so we cannot let our guard down just yet. For the moment, enjoy your victory, but take this time to learn more about the HIMMA bill and your coalition partners. This threat seems likely to be with us for sometime to come.
Thank you for your advocacy, and congratulations!
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