Dems Agree to Drop Government-Run Insurance Option

On paper, it doesn't cut costs permanently. I think I read it from Karl Rove or someone who did a breakdown, and we end up paying a lot more after the 10 years.

So there's a heavy argument that the senators gamed the CBO score before rolling everything out.

This is where the pilot programs give me some assurance to bite down on a possible bill than chase a perfectly ideal one. Not saying they will all work, but the public option wasn't a sure fire guarantee either....

 

I think what the article is saying is that bigger picture this is just the beginning of trying to gather info on what works and what will not.

this thing is complicated and imo, to get the ball rolling on anything is a success.

 

Yeah, but with Medicare/Medicaid expecting to run out of money fairly soon, the public expectations for these programs will weigh down heavily.

 

I have a stupid and lazy question, mainly because I've been paying attention to certain aspects of the health care debate (abortion) to the detriment of others (ummm... the healthcare parts).

So, all will need to be insured, less they face a penalty, correct?

How is that going to affect poor families that can't afford health insurance? Are we going to fine them? Is that were the lack of a public option becomes a big deal? I'm failing to compute the logic of this. If I were an insurer I'd love this bill. Flocks of customers will be showing up.

 

Yups.

 

Poor families get subsidies. IIRC, families of 4 making 44k are eligible.

 

go go go free market economics, you demonstrate utter mediocrity in health care and ultimate failure in any field finance-related and yet people still love you

 

Any real, honest and critical assessment of the failure of airport security would reveal that....drum roll....

We will never have meaningful airport security because Americans won't stand for it. Americans will never willingly give up curbside check in and will never allow a system in which it takes longer to get through security than it does to fly to your destination. Americans will never allow a system in which they cannot take laptops or ipods or cell phones on the plane.

These are the things it takes to have true airport security. All we presently have is window dressing. It is not the fault of any administration. It is the fault of our society. We will not learn the lesson until we learn it the hard way. The warning signs are there. We choose to fail to act upon them...because it is convenient.

It makes me sad, but it is the truth.

 

Pelosi doesn't have the votes to pass Senate version.

 

As I noted in the Brown thread I am not surprised there is bluster about where the votes are, consider though even before Brown Reid still didn't have 60 votes for the House bill. If the Democrats don't really want to commit political suicide, by going into 2010 election with nothing regarding health care, they will pass the Senate option.

It is possible that they will commit political suicide but I suspect that Pelosi and House liberals will realize this and come around to voting for the Senate Bill.

 

wait, are you suggesting that political suicide is to found in passing either version of this bill, rather than letting them die?

 

I was talking to my business partner the other day about how the Obama Admin. has handled health care and we both agreed the biggest problem was leaving it up to Congress to hash out. We ended up speculating on if Hillary Clinton had been president how it might've been handled. Here is my speculation.

Under a Hillary Clinton health care the final bill(s) would be fairly similar to what we have now but the process getting there would be different. The Republicans would from the beginning been against Hillary Clinton even more than they were to Obama. While there would've been a kabuki show of attempting bipartisanship by both Clinton and the Republicans behind the scenes the Clinton Admin from the start would be looking to solely deal with the Democractic majority and look to press party discipline. Many of the same compromises with people like Stupak, Nelson and Lieberman would've been made but those would've been done much earlier. The net result is something somewhat similar to the Senate Bill is passed by September.

Anyway just throwing this out for intellectual reasons.

 

Not at all and if you reread my post you will see that I specifically stated that political suicide is going into the 2010 elections not passing the Senate Bill.

 

again, so i'm understanding you properly:

It's political suicide for Dems to let the Senate bill die.

correct?

 

Health Care reform died on Tuesday. The Republicans killed it and will celebrate I'm sure. Ironically, people try to say that it was a referendum on health care in Mass....of course, Mass has universal coverage for all the state already - so why should they vote to put the same plan in place for the rest of the nation???

I just feel bad for a lot of hard-working friends who don't have any health insurance and can't afford to pay $500 out of pocket a month for an HMO.

I think what will happen is that Blue states will just adopt their own gov't state policy to cover uninsured people and the Red states will let their uninsured beg for health care at the hospital.

 

I kind of thought it died on Tuesday, but I think it really died yesterday in the Supreme Court.

When you have the 2010 and certainly the 2012 US Congress (brought to you by Kaiser Permanente! And by... Pfizer!) seated, they will certainly tear-up any of the previous reforms anyway.

It's going to be an amazing thing to watch the political process just become perverted beyond our cynical dreams now.

 

Well as a last gasp of democracy the Dems could ram it home before Cosmo boy takes office.

You are right after the Kaiser-Permanente, Aetna crowd gets in they will just undo it.

 

When I agree this much with glynch... I'm starting to wonder if the Mayan calendar was right after all. :grin: