By DAVE BLOWER JR.
Farm World Editor

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives wildly celebrated a 219-212 vote adopting a hotly contested health care reform bill, many U.S. farm groups were offering their opinions on the legislation.

All 219 votes in favor of the 10-year, $940 billion bill came from Democrats on Sunday evening. All 178 Republicans, plus another 34 Democrats voted against the proposal. The plan is intended to cover 32 million uninsured Americans by expanding Medicaid and providing federal subsidies.

National Farmers Union President (NFU) Roger Johnson explained that the NFU supported the need for health care reform. He said this bill, also known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, will reduce the cost of coverage; bring more physicians to rural hospitals; and prevent insurance companies from discriminating against those with pre-existing conditions.

“The United States has a moral obligation to stop insurance companies from dropping coverage on ailing patients,” Johnson stated. “Rural Americans are among the oldest in the population, and denying them the coverage they need based on pre-existing conditions must be stopped.”

As of Farm World’s deadline on Monday afternoon, President Obama had not yet signed the bill into law. However, he tentatively planned to sign it on Tuesday.

“As we await the President’s signature on this groundbreaking legislation, NFU praises the diligent work of all involved in shaping this legislation that is crucial to the well-being of farmers and ranchers and rural communities,” said Johnson.

The American Farm Bureau Federation was among those ag groups campaigning against the health care reform bill. AFBF President Bob Stallman said his group supported tort reform as a means to reduce health care costs.

“Missing from health insurance reform legislation is meaningful liability reform that would inject fairness into the medical malpractice legal system and reduce unnecessary litigation and legal costs,” Stallman wrote in a letter to Congressmen prior to Sunday night’s vote.

He admitted, though, that some form of health care reform is needed.

“Health insurance costs are an ongoing and significant expense for farmers and ranchers who buy coverage for themselves and their families and the agricultural workers they employ,” Stallman said. “The proposed framework for exchanges may help address costs and is similar in concept to association health plans which we have supported for years. Tax incentives in the proposal designed to help individuals and small employers afford health insurance costs are inadequate and temporary and their limited application will not adequately compensate employers for higher health care expenses.

“Most farmers and ranchers are self-employed and buy health insurance for themselves and their workers through individual and small group markets. Passing a coverage mandate accompanied by a threat of penalty for noncompliance will only make the situation worse for people unable to afford coverage.”

U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) said, even with its imperfections, the bill was the most morally and fiscally responsible approach to health reform. She does not support, however, the addendums to the legislation, Lincoln said.

“The Reconciliation package devised by the House includes matters unrelated to health care and employs a legislative process that wasn’t subject to the same transparency and thorough debate that we used in the Senate,” Lincoln said. “I cannot support this process.

“I have fought for health care reform to reduce costs for small business owners and the self-employed so they can reinvest the savings in their companies and hire more workers.”

U.S. Rep. Timothy V. Johnson (R-Ill.) was disappointed that the bill expanded the government and its power. He said, “The agency will have the authority to fine individuals up to $2,250 or 2 percent of your income – whichever is greater – for failure to prove you have purchased ‘minimum essential coverage.’ “More than 150 new agencies, commissions and government offices will be created under this monstrosity, bloating the bureaucracy even more, and all to be overseen by 13 more ‘czars’ – unelected, highly paid bureaucrats whose reason for being is to control your health care and your life.

“Reimbursement rates will also be cut for in-patient and out-patient hospital services, long-term care facilities, psychiatric hospitals, hospice, labs, medical product suppliers and prescription drugs. Citizens in the small towns in the 15th District of Illinois will surely lose many of their doctors.

Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) said the battle against this specific legislating isn’t finished. “To the Hoosiers and Americans across the country who share my outrage over the process of the health care debate and the policy approved, I say that the fight is not over yet - not by a long shot,” Burton said.