Reply #10: Unfortunately, you HAVE to pass the Senate bill first... [View All]

[regnaD kciN]

...because one of the most underlooked, but utterly vital, parts of health reform is the ban on "adverse selection" -- refusing to cover people because of pre-existing conditions, or dropping people once they get sick -- plus the cap on how much people can be charged, and making it purely age-based. And those, being regulatory rather than budget-related, cannot be passed through reconciliation. Period. And, if you don't have those, insurers will react to virtually every other reform either by selectively jacking up rates or simply dumping anyone who has a chance (based on medical records or even simple demographics) of costing them money. The end result would be that private insurance would become utterly unaffordable for anyone who ever got sick -- and, if we had a public option, it would wind up covering all those in need or expensive care, making the premium costs higher than private insurance (assuming you could even qualify for the latter).

Yes, a lot can and should be passed through reconciliation -- but, hard as it may be to understand, for them to work, you have to pass the regulatory portion of the current bill first. And, if we lose that 60th Senate vote, the only way to do it is for the House to hold their nose and pass the Senate bill as is...and then get to work on a reconciliation resolution that would fix it.