Ben Nelson is on board as of this morning:
The details of Reid's amendment were also released.
Whaddaya think?
"Sen. Ben Nelson (Neb.), the final Democratic holdout on health care, was prepared to announce to his caucus Saturday morning that he would support the Senate reform bill, clearing the way for final passage by Christmas.
...Democratic leaders spent days trying to hammer out a deal with Nelson, and worked late Friday night with Nelson on abortion coverage language that had proved the major stumbling block. But Nelson also secured other favors for his home state.
Asked if he was prepared to support the bill, Nelson said, "Yeah."
The details of Reid's amendment were also released.
"Starting immediately, insurers would be prohibited from denying children coverage for pre-existing conditions. A complete ban on the practice would take effect in 2014.."
Reid's package also would give patients the right to appeal to an independent board if an insurer denies a medical claim. And all insurance companies would be required to spend at least 80 cents of every dollar they collect in premiums on delivering care to their customers.
Every American would be required to obtain coverage under the proposal, and employers would be required to pay a fine if they failed to offer affordable coverage and their workers sought federal subsidies to purchase insurance in the exchanges.
The overall cost of the package was not immediately available, but aides said it would be more than covered by cutting future Medicare spending and raising taxes in the health sector, including a 40 percent excise on the most expensive insurance policies. The package would reduce budget deficits by $130 billion by 2019, aides said, and by as much as $650 billion in the decade thereafter."
Whaddaya think?
I'm a pretty easy going guy. BUT WHAT THE HELL IS THIS CRAP ABOUT BEN NELSON AND NEBRASKA????
Who the hell is negotiating this????
"Vengeful minds want to know."
jefe if you can could you post a link to vicki kennedy's article which ran today? today i was grazing with the remote and ran across fox where a republican was making a laughable point about ben nelson. saying nebraska gets this and that and other states get nothing, how about the fact that republicans did not participate except in their capacity as obstructionists, and those like cornyn whose state of texas boasts a whopping 27% of the entire nation's uninsured? exactly what has cornyn or mccain been trying to get for their states lately? i am also very frustrated with rahm emanuel and don't see how much longer obama can keep him around. howard dean might just break out a campaign to oust obama and appeal to the base who are livid.
Miemaw, excellent link! And yes, it does make me want to gouge my eyes out.
I have always believed that what goes around, comes around, and I hope I live long enough to see Rahm "get his"! What a pathetic excuse for a human being he is.
Real life - "Mafia Wars".
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-feldman/year-of-the-rahm-get-em-t_b_398106.html
or real life "Farmville" -- take your pick.
Miemaw
Effing wankers, the lot of them.
If you don't get it going in, you don't get it.
Why is change a four-letter word in this country?
Lahdidah, while I agree in theory with what you are saying, we are expecting the Congress to do the right thing and make this better in the long run. Sorry, I just don't trust them that much!
These people would screw anyone in their path and not look back...
I know that many of us are upset about this bill. I also remember being 16 and wanting a car so bad. . .I showed my parents many different models, all new and flashy, all the while they nodded and said we will see. Well, I got a car; it was used, but in good condition. After several years, I traded the car and upgraded it. Point being, I didn't get exactly what I wanted at first, but later I did.
I'm already there with Medicare and that one of the things that scares me about this bill. Why they want to strip cost from the Medicare program and not spend more time on cutting fraud is beyond me.
I agree with "Anna".
I used to tell all my wonderful Republican family members who worried about whether or not SS and Medicare would survive.... that -- maybe -- if they would NOT vote Republican -- and stop voting against their own interests... it would have a chance.
Now.... with what's in this "health care bill".. I got nothing left to say.
well, it should only be a small step from loving grandma to accepting taxes to help care for her. Though, somehow many folks tend to go off course at that point.
As my ten-year old daughter has been trying to get me to write for a long time..."perhaps, we all really belong to not the tea party, but a lemon party that should be transformed to the lemonade party." Courtesy of "Anna"
I am trying, I really am, but I just can't get a warm and fuzzy feeling about this bill.
I still have a nagging feeling that it's going to hurt more people than it will help. I know that it won't help me, and I am afraid that I am not alone.
Speaking from experience.
Most folks don't hate their own grandma. My grand kids all love me to death.
What they hate is that grandma, gets taken care of under Medicare, with their taxes.
None of my kids believe that Medicare, or Social Security will be there for them. And, probably, in its present form.... it won't be.
This gives the Congress one way to avoid responsibility, and accountability, on any -- and all changes to the Medicare system.
We old people...tend to vote.
So,...If Clinton made a mistake... is Obama going to repeat it??? Looks like.
For Whatever It's Worth:
Clinton did admit that his reforms to the welfare system was one of his biggest mistakes. The serious studies done concerning the welfare system reveal that targeted reform will have little to no effect. The changes have to occur elsewhere. The potential for covert whacks to the medicare system doesn't strike me as likely unless perpetrated by those that hate 'grandma'
I thought 77 cents on the dollar is the current industry average and the goal was 90 cents on the dollar?
Miemaw wrote"This is how all those savings are going to come from Medicare"
Well that figures since I'm only a year away from Medicare.
This is how all those savings are going to come from Medicare.
Scares the living hell out of me.
http://prorev.com/2009/12/medicare-covert-target-in-health-deform.html
BTW - Bob,
I agree with both your comments.
As you can tell, I'm really angry that we couldn't get there with a clear mandate of the people for reform, and majorities in both Houses. The dealmakers (Emanuel) were too busy dealmaking. Blue Dogs worried about re-election pandered to the right. Lieberman was too busy getting revenge. Republicans did what they alway do...crap on everything that doesn't say "tax cut" on the front of it. Teabaggers were too busy teabagging.
McCain was predictable...he said we were "rushing" into legislation. Rushing. After 93 YEARS! http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2009/12/07/091207taco_talk_lepore
OTOH, Vicki Kennedy said today that Teddy's biggest regret was not cutting a deal with Nixon for universal coverage. He was holding out for the right plan and lost a chance of a lifetime. That cost us almost 40 years. This is better than zero, on reflection, but far from what we, as Americans should expect from our leaders.
eljefebob, couldn't have said it better myself!
Jesus. Taxing good plans, offering no public option, no Medicare buy-in, abortion language about as simple as "nucular" physics. Most of the plan doesn't take effect for 4 years, insurance company monopolies protected forever.
What a pile of crap...but that's all the American people get for all of the hard work.
Oh..BTW...to Rahm Emanuel...F*** Y**!
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/12/18/rahm-emanuel-dont-worry-about-the-left/