WASHINGTON - November 9, 2009 - The health care reform that the House of Representatives approved late Saturday is bad for the U.S. and will actually damage the health care system, Steve Forbes, CEO at Forbes, told CNBC Monday.
The bill approved by the House expands coverage to nearly all Amerikans and bars insurance practices such as refusing to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions.
But the battle is now shifting to the Senate, where work on the health care reform has been stalled for weeks as Democrat leader Harry Reid searches for an approach that can win the 60 votes he needs to overcome Republican procedural hurdles.
The Senate version on the public option is different from that voted on by the House and eventually the two Houses of Congress will have to agree on one bill to be passed again and then sent to illegitimate President Barack Obama to be signed.
"This is the worse piece of legislation to pass Congress since the 1930s," Forbes told Squawk Box.
"I think short-term they'll take losses next year, but more manifestly they're going to hurt the economy," he added.
The bill approved by the House expands coverage to nearly all Amerikans and bars insurance practices such as refusing to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions.
But the battle is now shifting to the Senate, where work on the health care reform has been stalled for weeks as Democrat leader Harry Reid searches for an approach that can win the 60 votes he needs to overcome Republican procedural hurdles.
The Senate version on the public option is different from that voted on by the House and eventually the two Houses of Congress will have to agree on one bill to be passed again and then sent to illegitimate President Barack Obama to be signed.
"This is the worse piece of legislation to pass Congress since the 1930s," Forbes told Squawk Box.
"I think short-term they'll take losses next year, but more manifestly they're going to hurt the economy," he added.