The Sausage is Almost Done

Senator Nelson seems to have lost sight of the fact that the Supreme Court ruled restrictions on abortions are unconstitutional. They have never ruled on bans of abortions by the Federal Government and the amendment to the health bill that he supported was thankfully voted down. The scary thing though, with the 5-4 conservative majority in the Supreme Court, they would in all likelihood find no conflict between government restrictions on abortion and the status quo upholding the Roe v Wade decision. The Supreme Court has a knack for looking at spaghetti, and when someone drills a hole lengthwise in the middle of it, they’re very comfortable calling it macaroni.

Senator Reid’s health care bill has been massaged and tweaked to a point where a 60-vote majority may now potentially exist. The details are hard to come by. He cited broad agreement, yet except for a few tidbits we, nor the other Senators have much insight to the latest negotiations amoung the ten Democrats, five liberals and five centrists who've been working the details. Here's what I've read or heard. I'm sure it will change again before the bill is actually voted on.

On the plus side, people age 55-64 may now be able to buy into Medicare. This will help a lot people who are having trouble getting insurance at that age with pre-existing conditions- many of whom are early retirees, or laid off workers. I would love to see Congress keep lowering the age every year until it gets to zero. Then we’d have what America needs- universal health care for all, and not profit motivated.

People will have choices of private plans from an exchange pool, if they can’t get insurance through their employer. private non-profit plans, administered by the government will be available.

People will no longer be denied coverage with pre-existing conditions, although the cost may still be prohibitive. There is a cap on the cost, but it may still be out of reach for many people.

People will no longer be dropped from their insurance when they become sick

Lifetime and annual caps on benefit payouts will be lifted.

On the negative side, the public option is dead.
The government will mandate that everyone carry insurance, even without the public option, thus guaranteeing new business for private insurers with no incentive or competition to lower prices.

A trigger will be included that may invoke a public option if the private insurers fail to meet cost and availability targets. You can be sure these targets will be a slam dunk- the insurance industry would never leave itself vulnerable to a defacto public option triggered by their failure to meet targets. And states can elect to opt out.

That’s about it. The House and Senate still have to merge a single bill, assuming this Senate version actually gets approved.

Here’s an article on the subject: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/health/policy/10health.html?hp