While the headline news from Harry Reid was about the public option, which is firm and in stone, on several other fronts, the deal has not completely been made. A Senate leadership aide close to the negotiations emailed me that on issues of affordability and coverage subsidies, among others, Reid is sending 2-3 versions to the CBO, and then will choose the option which covers the most people and saves the most money for the federal government. So we’ll have to wait a while longer for a public bill. I’m working on some of the other details of the most defined measure in the bill thus far, that public option with an opt-out.
The White House has forwarded a response to all this:
The President congratulates Senator Reid and Chairmen Baucus and Dodd for their hard work on health insurance reform. Thanks to their efforts, we’re closer than we’ve ever been to solving this decades-old problem. And while much work remains, the President is pleased that at the progress that Congress has made. He’s also pleased that the Senate has decided to include a public option for health coverage, in this case with an allowance for states to opt out. As he said to Congress and the nation in September, he supports the public option because it has the potential to play an essential role in holding insurance companies accountable through choice and competition.
Chuck Schumer also praised Reid for including a public option in the bill, and he confirms that it is based on his “level playing field” version:
“Leader Reid has always been a strong supporter of a public option that could help keep the insurers honest, and today he showed just how deep his commitment is. The public option has new life because as Americans have learned more about it, they have come to see it is the best way to reduce costs and increase competition in the health insurance industry. This form of public option is not exactly what either liberals or moderates would want. But a public plan based on a level playing field, with an opt-out for states, is the best compromise that has the potential of getting 60 votes in the Senate.”
MoveOn sent along a video from Robert Reich detailing the final steps for reform, using the snappy new phrase “medical-industrial complex.”
UPDATE: Importantly, Max Baucus signaled his full support of Reid’s bill:
It is time to make our system work better for patients and providers, for small business owners and for our economy. It is time for health care reform. For more than a year, we’ve been working to meet the goals of reducing the growth of health care costs, improving quality and efficiency and expanding coverage. There are a tremendous number of complicated issues that go into reform and the public option is certainly one of them. I included a public option in the health reform blueprint I released nearly one year ago, and continue to support any provision, including a public option, that will ensure choice and competition and get the 60 votes needed to pass the Senate. Success should be our threshold and I am going to fight hard for the 60 votes we need to meet that goal this year.
UPDATE II: In a bit of hilarity, the NRSC, the campaign arm for Republicans, called Reid a “partisan bully” because of his decision on this bill. Boy, if only that were true…
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…the campaign arm for Republicans, called Reid a “partisan bully” because of his decision on this bill. Boy, if only that were true…
As opposed to say, Tom Delay?
If LBJ were still walking the Senate floors, Harry Reid would amount to a very small stain on the bottom of his boot.
“partisan bully” – OMG, did they watch the exchange between Reid and McConnell today on trying (on Reid’s part) to get an extension to unemployed benefits voted on. Man, would be be nice to have LBJ running the Senate for just one term.
Baucus:
Jesus H. Christ on a bicycle. what cajones.
Translation:
“
That which appears to be a grin on Baucus’s face is actually a grimace – he just got kicked in the balls.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
Mean ol’ partisan bully, thinking of healthcare for human beings and not corporate engorgement.
Can someone pls tell me who exactly would be eligible to sign up for the public option plan?
Tis is really the best thing in American politics for decades, if it goes through.
But it pisses me off that the rules are 1.) it must be budget-neutral and 2.) don’t harm the insurance companies in any way. That’s where the local option, trigger, co-ops, etc. all come from, along with the fanatical resistance.
The ideal bill would put the insurance companies more or less out of business and be paid for partly with tax dollars.
At least bipartisanship seems to have been dropped. What a stupid idea.
I hope someone told Snowe to go f herself.
I predict that the more draconian aspects to the bill, such as the individual mandate, begin to come into focus now that the public option has been dealt with.
What an insufferable prima donna. Not as bad as Lieberman, I suppose. All those tiny clowns are enjoying their day in the son.
Sure have a lot of those types in the senate. They have no idea how f’ing stoopid they look to the outside world.
I wish I thought that were true. When they (esp. Rah;m and Obama) have been so tenacious on “needing” to have it appear bipartisan, and apparenetly deeply believing that getting one Republican to vote with you equals bipartisan, I don’t believe they’ve given that belief up. Not yet. Not sure they ever will.
Some cliche about not being able to read the writing on the wall comes to mind.
ah, shucks, BO ran out of magic bi-partisan fairy dust…
Do you understand why it’s still so important to O after all the contrary evidence? I get the thing that once you get to be King of the Mountain, you want to unite your whole tribe with you, but seriously, when there’s no way to bring the opposition into the fold, why does he keep trying.
it really defies all logic. I don’t buy the 11 dimensional chess business.
If I asked you everyday since August if a public option would be in the bill there would have been a point where most of us would have said NO.
Yet the bill still lives.
I don’t always agree with Obama’s method’s but they sure do seem to get the job done.
I look at this way. If he could beat Hillary and get elected after the J. Wright issue. In America. By a landslide.
I wouldn’t want to play chess against the man.
Harry Reid got it done.
What do you think happens to a governor that want’s to opt out.
It’s political suicide. If that’s even in the bill.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we have a single payer system when this is all said and done.
What do you think would happen if the CBO received a single payer health care option just for sh&%ts and giggles.
Baucus has balls the size of grapefruits to roll that out after the hissy fit he threw last week.
John
relative to the summer of our discontent I’m pleasantly surprised by this (near) come. It just seems to come despite Obama instead of due to his intrepid leadership.
It won’t be clear until it’s final. The best bill in the House makes everyone up 400% of poverty eligible (a single person with just over $40,000 annually). The final bill probably won’t be that good.
Good. My misery likes your company.
This would be the President who last week was questioning Harry heading in this direction? And who will throw Harry under the bus if even one Dem joins the GOP filibuster?
There are things the President has done well in the process, and things that he has done poorly. We’re not over the finish line yet, and that’s largely all he’ll get judged on (especially if we ignore that ridiculously slow proceess on this *one* issue has completely hamstrung Congress and the White House from addressing a shitload of other things that need to get address).
So let’s see how things turn out before we praise the Ninja Chessmaster, and see the impact on other items on the rather broad agenda. Praise where it’s warranted. Be open to criticism where it is as well. There’s plenty that has happened this year that warrants some of each.
John
Well, there’s hard ways to get stuff done and there’s easy ways. Perhaps you should read up on LBJ. I see no leadership in the Ds, including O, despite the fact that they pulled their nuts out of the fire at the last minute. Let’s see: campaign contributions or votes? campaign contributions or votes? campaign contributions or votes. Gee, maybe votes matter after all. All kudoes go to Jane and her compatriots. The pols deserve ZERO credit.
and mine, yours :~)
A mutual miseradulation society.
in Zen enlightenment terms, the Mutual of Ommm… A-hah!
Think you missed a beat: Teh Mutual of Ommm… Ba-Ma.
“Chuck Schumer also praised Reid for including a public option in the bill, and he confirms that it is based on his level playing field version”
So the Reid plan is not, in fact, the public option at all. It does little or nothing to control cost or increase competition. Instead, it forces the public insurance plan to peg its prices to those used by private insurance companies while guaranteeing that the private companies will dump their sickest subscribers onto the public. It is a recipe for failure.
Seems she quite ably has done that already. “Irrelevant” is the word that first comes to mind.
I don’t always agree with Obama’s method’s but they sure do seem to get the job done.
I think that the reality is that Obama got beat.
I’m still willing to let him take credit, but I still don’t trust him.