First, this one from Lindsay Beyerstein, one of the few journalists left. It's largely about the kabuki, but that's what we've got left. She does note this from Kevin Drum, including what's still there to negotiate after Lieberman and Nelson got done gutting the Senate bill:
Warts and all, we're on the cusp of passing a bill that provides all of this:
* Insurers have to take all comers. They can't turn you down for a preexisting condition or cut you off after you get sick.
* Community rating. Within a few broad classes, everyone gets charged the same amount for insurance.
* Individual mandate. (Remember how we all argued that this was a progressive feature back when John Edwards and Hillary Clinton were championing it during the primaries?)
* A significant expansion of Medicaid.
* Subsidies for low and middle income workers that keeps premium costs under 10% of income.
* Limits on ER charges to low-income uninsured emergency patients.
* Caps on out-of-pocket expenses.
* A broad range of cost-containment measures.
* A dedicated revenue stream to support all this.
A trillion dollars in benefit for low and middle income workers. 95% of Americans insured. Medical bankruptcies on the verge of disappearing. And for the first time ever, an acknowledgement that decent healthcare ought to be universal in the United States.
One can dream -- my guess is, the good parts won't survive the Senate. Check out what Mark Sshmitt has to say on that score:
Instead, by passing a compromised but complete bill with 60 votes, Democrats will have plenty of room to expand its provisions, and even add ideas like the Medicare buy-in for older workers, using the budget reconciliation process in the future.
Schmitt is more optimistic than I am -- I have no confidence in the Democrats to do, or even attempt, any such thing. There will certainly be no push from the White House on it.
Digby has a discussion of the role Ben Nelson (D-National Right to Life Committee) is likely to play in scuttling the conference report. And he'll try, if there is any deviation from the Senate bill.
I'm not hopeful, but I could be wrong. I just don't think there is the political will among the Democrats to fix it. I think we're going to have to wait until certain incumbents have been discarded before we're going to see any meaningful health care reform in this country. And I think the Democrats will come back to us at the midterms this year crowing about their D-, when they could have had a B+.
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