Democrats, White House close in on health bill

[Peacetrain]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100311/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_overhaul;


WASHINGTON – A final agreement nearly in hand, President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders are about to embark on one last sales job that will determine the outcome of the president's signature health care overhaul.

It will come down to a phenomenal effort by congressional leaders and the White House to win over skittish lawmakers after a year of incendiary debate, even as Obama keeps up campaign-style appearances designed to fire up public support.

A closed-door meeting in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office Wednesday evening moved congressional leaders and administration officials close to agreement on such issues as additional subsidies to help lower-income families purchase health insurance and more aid for states under the Medicaid program for low-income Americans.

Democrats still need to see a final cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office — and want to ensure it stays around $950 billion over 10 years — but they made plans to begin to read the bill to rank-and-file Democrats at a caucus meeting Thursday.

[still_one]

1. Gee, after wasting a year of time trying to get bipartisan support, now doing what they should

have done from the beginning, applying pressure on members in Congress

If they had done that from the start, they would have had a public option instead of a watered down bill

[Cha]

15. Nothing was wasted..they tried and the

American people know they did.

[dflprincess]

18. They didn't try at all

we're getting mandated premiums with no guarnatees we'll be able to afford care. Except for the "reform" that requires us to send money to the insurance companies, that's the system we have now.

[Cha]

21. The Dems tried to be civil knowing the repubs would never

respond in kind.

[dflprincess]

22. If they knew how the Republicans would respond then it was rather futile to try

Obama and the Congressional leadership have gotten the bill they wanted all along - everything else was theater intended to fool the public into thinking they were really trying.

[derby378]

2. Emphasis on the word "sales"

No public option, forced purchase of private insurance, ability to drop you for undisclosed pre-existing conditions - yeah, they'll have to sell this plan with every ounce of strength they have.

I sure hope Grayson's bill pulls through in the end. It will help the overall plan just enough to pull some Democrats back in.

[still_one]

4. They can still drop you for undisclosed pre-existing conditions? /nt

[derby378]

6. The insurance companies got a "fraud" clause worked into the plan

If you had rosacea as a teen but forgot all about it when applying for health insurance, and the provider hires an investigator to research your past medical history, and the investigator finds the word "rosacea" anywhere in your files, the provider can deny you coverage on the basis that you attempted to hide a "pre-existing condition" from them.

Now, if this has somehow changed, I hope someone will bring me up to speed.

[still_one]

7. That's the problem, there is so much fine print. Medicare for all would have been so simple /nt

[bornskeptic]

8. Not so. Companies could not consider health status in issuing the policy.

Thus the insured would be under no obligation to reveal a pre-existing condition, so he or she could not be charged with fraud for concealing it. Actual insurance fraud is a major factor in the high cost of US healthcare, and although Medicare and Medicaid are the primary victims, private insurance is not immune to it. The fraud clause in the current legislation has nothing to do with pre-existing conditions.

[derby378]

24. Thanks

I appreciate the feedback.

[denimgirly]

3. The bills a Mess but seeing as How the U.S. always goes the hard route....

its passage will maybe in 10-20 years be revisted and revised to get closer to the inevitable need for Single Payer or something resembling it (Medicare for All, or even Public Option). Until then at least people have an opportunity to buy health stock and realize the significant capital gains that will continue to come by its passage and growth of these companies.

[NJmaverick]

5. This will be a historic victory when it happens

Presidents and politicians since Teddy R. have tried to get this done and have failed.

[Dr.Phool]

9. Close in on it, surround it, and kill it.

[Peacetrain]

11. Your late...

[ShortnFiery]

10. This is indeed tragic. We are being used by our own party leaders to enrich the Insurance Cartel.

It's a sad TIME for our beloved party. :(

[Peacetrain]

12. Two years ago, if I told you we were going to get through a bill

that kept people who have pre existing conditions from being disqualified for insurance.. that 30 million people who have had no insurance will now be able to get coverage.. that those who are at the bottom of the economic ladder would be subsidized, my guess is that you would have supported it.

[ShortnFiery]

13. You don't give a damn that it will PUNISH more than assist many people, to include,

those mostly within the working classes. But screw that! You've got yours aye? More transfer of wealth from the working people to the bloated Insurance Cartel and Big Pharma.

[Peacetrain]

14. Oh Bull Hockey.. You do not know me or who I am or what I do..

I bet have not even bothered to look at the bill..

[Cha]

16. "Bullhockey".. I said

bullhockey to someone once and was accused of being a teenager in the basement! :rofl:

[Peacetrain]

17. You know where I got that.. from my grandmother who used it to keep from swearing

:rofl:..

They were off a few generations

[Cha]

20. Someone else wrote on the

thread that it was a classic from Ferris Bueller I believe..I don't know where I got it from..don't use it but it just came out bc I wanted to be more civil.:)

I use to say bullfeathers around my kids. :rofl:

[dflprincess]

19. To some, the important thing is that Obama sign a bill that has "health care" in the title

what's actually in the bill and who it hurts doesn't matter to them.

[freddie mertz]

23. That has been abundantly clear for some time now.

But the WH and its Insurance Company allies made sure they got what THEY wanted... mandates, excise tax, and no public option.

Liars and cheaters, all.