Reid to reveal final bill

[IndianaGreen]

Here is what caught my eye in the story now being reported by MSNBC:

Reid confident revised health bill will pass

After talks with holdout, majority leader says he intends to reveal final bill

WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is expressing confidence about the prospects for passage of historic health care legislation after daylong talks with Democratic holdout Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska.

In a statement issued late Friday night, Reid says he intends to unveil final revisions to the measure on Saturday and is confident they will prevail.

Nelson also said real progress had been made but said there was nothing final.

<snip>

That gave Nelson enormous leverage as he pressed for concessions that included stronger restrictions on abortions to be covered by insurance policies offered in a newly overhauled health care system. Officials said he was also seeking to ease the impact of a proposed insurance industry tax on nonprofit companies, as well as win more federal funds to cover Nebraska's cost of treating patients in Medicaid, the state-federal health care program for the poor. These officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, said the administration and Democratic leaders had offered concessions on those points.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34479067/ns/politics-health_care_reform/

[Eric J in MN]

1. I'm interested in what it will say about annual-caps and Medical-Loss-Ratios. NT

NT

[IndianaGreen]

2. I am more worried about the concessions made to Ben Nelson

:scared:

[jillan]

3. Seriously - after all the excuses Nelson gave for not wanting to vote for this....

what did he get to change his mind.

:scared: I'll join you.

[dgibby]

4. Make that three of us.

:scared:

What makes me think the women in this country are about to be run over by the bus? If that happens, there better be some progressives stepping up to the plate ricky ticky.

[rasputin1952]

7. He's one of my Senators, not to say I had anything to do with this...

but I e-mailed him and told him I would hold him personally accountable for the untimely deaths in NE if he stalled this Bill, or any HCR Bill. I did get a call from his office yesterday; an individual told me that Nelson was seeking a way, "he could vote for HCR". I reiterated my position on holding him personally responsible, and that his colleague Johanns had already a few e-mails and letters just for being an asshole R...:D

There's a LOT of pressure on Nelson, and since he "changes his mind" about how he is against the Bill, or any Bill, has made him the laughing stock of not just NE, but the rest of the country.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Makes me sick to think of it.

[elleng]

6. The Nebraska Democrat

has already rejected one proposed offer on abortions as insufficient, and the presence in the talks of Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., indicated additional changes were on the table.

Boxer has a strong record in favor of abortion rights. She told reporters as she left the Capitol at the end of the evening there had been progress made on the issue of separating personal funds, which may be used to pay for abortions, from federal funds, which may not.

The issue is contentious because the legislation provides federal subsidies to help lower and middle-income families afford insurance and the other federal health care programs ban the use of government money to pay for abortions.


http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/12/19/us/politics/AP-US-Health-Care-Overhaul.html

[Mass]

8. Fine if Medicaid gets more money for Nebraska. I have no issue with that.

Now to go back to the real problems (otherwise, how can they justify waivers and allowances to sell shitty 50 % coverage insurances to those who can get waivers).

1/ Mandates. While I have little hope they will have fixed this one, it is a real issue.

2/ Did they fix the S-CHIP hole or do they still hope poor and low middle class families will have to go from a 0-2 % copay to a 25 % copay. It's not me or some crazy netroots who say so. It is PA senator Casey, not exactly a crazy liberal.

3/ Consumer protection and selling across state lines. Sure, it will be nice for TX people to be able to buy insurances from VT or MA, but how do you justify selling insurances from TX in VT and MA in opposition to state consumer protection laws? Did they fix this?