Reply #8: Despite what he thinks, you can't go to reconciliation with this bill...! [View All]

[regnaD kciN]

Sure, you could pass a public option, but any attempt to regulate the insurance industry via reconciliation would be killed by the Senate parliamentarian, as it is not a matter of government spending or taxation. That includes the regulations about not dropping people when they get sick, refusing to cover people for pre-existing conditions, etc.

So, what happens if you go to reconciliation, and vote in a public option without those regulations? Every private insurance company drops anyone who might cost them money in the near future (including older people as a bloc) and forces them into the public option plan. Since that will, de facto, become a plan for high-risk clients, while the private insurers will only be covering low-risk clients, the premium cost for the public option plan will likely be more than for private insurance.

The only way to achieve this is by passing this bill, with all its problems, now, then coming back in the future and using its foundation to pass a public option through reconciliation. But we need this bill now to do it. If we kill this bill, we're still going to have to pass those regulations before we can put a public option in place, and it will still need sixty Senate votes. Better get that portion out of the way now.