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Politics : The Obama - Clinton Disaster -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (26559)	2/23/2010 5:33:48 PM
From: TideGlider	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 103300

Obama's Health Care "Hail Mary" Has Only 10% Chance of Working, McArdle Says Posted Feb 23, 2010 02:46pm EST by Peter Gorenstein in Healthcare Information, Newsmakers Related: AET, WLP, UNH, CI, PFE, IXJ, JNJ President Obama is back at it: On Monday he unveiled a new $950 billion plan that borrows heavily from the bill the Senate already passed and likely marks his last pass at health-care reform. This White House Plan includes: -- Creation of insurance marketplace, or "exchange," for consumers to shop for coverage. -- New federal authority to rein in premium rate hikes. -- Mandates for individuals to purchase insurance and most employers to offer it. -- Bans insurers from excluding consumers with preexisting conditions. -- A 2.9% Medicare tax on "unearned income" for individuals earning more than $200,000 annually and couples earning over $250,000. -- $33 billion in fees for drug companies, or $10 billion more than the Senate bill. -- A higher threshold for taxes on so-called "Cadillac plans" ($27,500 vs. $23,000) and a later starting date than the Senate version (2018 vs. 2013). Noticeably absent is the controversial "public option" or government run insurance option to compete with private insurers. Regardless of the changes and the outcome of Thursday’s bipartisan healthcare summit Megan McArdle, economics and business editor for The Atlantic says it's "unlikely this is actually radically going to turn around the popularity” of health-care reform. The way things stand in Washington, with the GOP pounding the drum on spending and big government,"there's no reason for the Republicans to cross the aisle" for the current version, McArdle says. Borrowing from the football analogy, McArdle characterizes this last ditch effort as a "Hail Mary" with a "10% chance" of completion. However, the popular blogger sees a better probability of the White House successfully pushing a more muted bill focusing on insurance reform.