Now the fun starts on health reform
The bargaining will be over a "leadership bill" merging Finance's work with that of the more-liberal HELP Committee, which put a public option in its plan.
The merger could include an idea being floated by Delaware Democrat Tom Carper (right), which would let states start co-ops, insurance exchanges, or a public plan based on the benefits their own state's employees get.
At DailyKos, McJoan points to two other ideas that got into the final Finance bill:
- An idea from Washington's Maria Cantwell which would let states create their own versions of a "public option," but only for people making too much for Medicaid but less than twice the federal poverty level. The hope is states would gradually expand eligibility.
- An idea from Oregon's Ron Wyden that would let states collect all the government's health aid and do what they want with it, even create a single-payer plan.
The key word in all the paragraphs above is states. The compromise is to create 50 different state health systems, based on each state's political preferences, and let future economic competition among the states decide what's best.
Despite the rise of these ideas, most liberals are dismayed. They see the President sidling away from a public option, call the Finance result a bill George Bush would love, even attack voters who oppose reform despite the aid they were lucky to get in the past to stave off bankruptcy in the face of disease.
As in baseball the regular season is over and the play-offs are about to begin.