My preference is that House Democrats pass the Senate bill and then run their fixes through the reconciliation process.
Or
Democrats could scrap the legislation and start over in the reconciliation process. But not to re-create the whole bill. If you go that route, you admit the whole thing seemed too opaque and complex and compromised. You also admit the limitations of the reconciliation process. So you make it real simple: Medicare buy-in between 50 and 65. Medicaid expands up to 200 percent of poverty with the federal government funding the whole of the expansion. Revenue comes from a surtax on the wealthy.
Do we have a winner?
I think health insurance reform is effectively dead. Either the current Senate bill will fail, or the legislation will be compromised further to get one or two more votes. It will be compromised to the point of becoming meaningless and pointless.
ReplyDeleteI think it's over, and we'll have to wait another decade (or two) to try again.
We've had thirty years of the same old drama of Reckless Republicans chased by Over-Cautious Dems right over a cliff; and the beat goes on and on into the indefinite future.
I'm afraid you're both right. The scared ninnies in the Democratic Party make me sick. Time for a third party.
ReplyDeleteWe don't even need a tax! Just stop one of the wars. Better yet, cut the military budget in half. That would still give us the largest military in the world AND health care for all. Now, even I can understand that.
ReplyDeleteWe don't even need a tax! Just stop one of the wars.
ReplyDeleteLindy, you're right about that. It seems that your view of US politics from China is clearer than ours is right here.