Why can't you believe it? I told you that's what would happen. Where is leadership? Where is Obama? He should be coming down on these clowns in his own party like a ton of bricks! Oh, that's right, he's too coopted to do anything......
No bill is better than the POS their squeezing out right now. We'll end up paying more and getting nothing. If all they are going to accomplish is to reform insurance, then pass a bill mandating guaranteed issue/community rating and call it a day.
The minute he dismissed single payor the writing was on the wall. Now the chickens are coming home to roost, and they're labeled "UNH, AET, CI".....<NG>
online.wsj.com
DECEMBER 15, 2009.Democrats Drop Plan to Expand Medicare .ArticleVideoComments (114)more in Politics ».
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By GREG HITT
WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats on Monday evening dropped a plan to expand Medicare, winning the support of moderates and the reluctant acquiescence of liberals, in another major step toward building enough support to pass a health-care overhaul.
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Getty Images A home heath-aide worker with United HomeCare Services helps Robert Granville, who has limited mobility, drink water Monday in his Miami home.
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The idea of letting people ages 55 to 64 buy into Medicare, announced just last week, had threatened to explode the Democrats' hopes of getting a bill through the Senate when Sen. Joseph Lieberman came out against it.
At an evening caucus of all 58 Democrats and the two independents who sit with the party, including Sen. Lieberman, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) and other party leaders made clear they wanted to head off the dispute.
Sen. Evan Bayh (D., Ind.) said Democrats agreed that the dispute over Medicare shouldn't hold up legislation that would extend coverage to tens of millions of Americans.
"There are a lot of good things here," he said. "To use an old cliché, the general consensus was we shouldn't make the perfect the enemy of the good."
Republicans decried the Democratic deal making, and urged the majority party to slow action on legislation they contend will undermine the U.S. economy. "Whether expansion of Medicare is in or out...doesn't affect the core problem with this legislation, which is that it does not reduce costs" and increases the size of government, said Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), speaking on the Senate floor Monday after word of the Medicare shift emerged.
Mr. Reid wants to vote on the legislation by Christmas, setting the stage for House-Senate negotiations on a final compromise bill in January. Among other things, the bill would expand Medicaid, which serves the poor, and create tax subsidies to help families purchase insurance.
The consensus on dropping the Medicare expansion puts Democrats close to locking up the 60 votes they need to overcome Republican opposition. After the caucus, Mr. Lieberman said, "The core parts of this bill are a historic accomplishment." He added he was "encouraged" by the direction of the bill, though he didn't formally endorse the latest version.
Some important hurdles remain before Mr. Reid can proceed toward a final vote.
A bipartisan coalition including Sens. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.), Evan Bayh (D., Ind.) and Susan Collins (R., Maine) wants to let consumers pocket the difference if they can find a health plan cheaper than the one their employer offers, WSJ's Janet Adamy reports.
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Sen. Ben Nelson (D., Neb.) continues to raise concerns that the legislation doesn't go far enough to ensure taxpayer dollars won't be used to fund abortions. Also, Democrats remain divided on a proposal by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D., N.D.) that would allow the reimportation of prescription drugs from Canada and some other countries.
A vote on the Dorgan amendment was set for Tuesday. If it passes, it would undermine a deal the White House struck with the drug industry to limit the industry's concessions to $80 billion over a decade.
Any deal must also win approval in the House, which passed its health bill Nov. 7 by a narrow margin. The House bill includes a government-run health-insurance plan coveted by liberals, while the latest Senate version doesn't. The Senate has the upper hand on the shape of the final bill because it is harder to get a bill through the Senate.
Senate Democrats are set to visit the White House Tuesday to meet President Barack Obama, who is also pressing for action before Christmas.
Mr. Lieberman said he was worried about the cost of expanding Medicare when the program's long-term solvency is in doubt. "I don't feel like a spoiler, I feel like somebody who's wanted to be for health-care reform," he said, adding he wasn't the only senator with concerns.
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Liberal Democrats suggested they would reluctantly go along with Mr. Lieberman's position. "There's enough good in this bill...that we ought to move it," said Sen. Tom Harkin (D., Iowa).
Senate aides said Mr. Reid was vexed by Mr. Lieberman's decision to draw a line in the sand over Medicare expansion. The majority leader believed that the Connecticut senator was open to expanding Medicare, they said, and in fact Mr. Lieberman proposed earlier in the fall something much like what senior Democrats later agreed upon.
In a September interview with the Connecticut Post, Mr. Lieberman suggested giving people 55 and older "an option to buy into Medicare early" if they were laid off or couldn't otherwise get affordable coverage.
A Lieberman spokesman, Marshall Wittmann, said that idea was superseded when the Senate Finance Committee passed a plan that would give the uninsured, including those over 55, subsidies to buy private insurance. Mr. Lieberman's "view is, essentially, that because we have subsidies, the Medicare buy-in would be redundant," Mr. Wittmann said.
He said that Mr. Lieberman had put Mr. Reid on notice late last week that he had problems with Medicare expansion. Mr. Lieberman's "position on this issue should be no surprise to the leadership," Mr. Wittmann said.
Senate Democratic aides suggested Mr. Reid could move as soon as Tuesday to begin shutting off debate on the legislation. That would likely set the stage for a final vote on the bill just before Christmas.
"Democrats aren't going to let the American people down," Mr. Reid said. "We all stand shoulder to shoulder." |
