If you’re one of the ‘it ain’t over till the fat lady sings’ crowd, well, she just did.
With apologies to House Speaker Pelosi; (she may be many things but fat she is not) she’s just finished her aria on health reform, and it is officially over. Pelosi’s recent remarks confirm what I’ve been saying; health reform is dead.
Specifically, Pelosi said there aren’t enough House votes to pass the Senate bill (good on them), leaving two options – passing a slimmed-down bill or a completely different bill with some reform components. Here’s how Pelosi characterized those options (according to Talking Points Memo):
“I don’t see the votes for it [current Senate bill] at this time,” Pelosi said. “The members have been very clear in our caucus about the fact that they didn’t like it before it had the Nebraska provision and some of the other provisions that are unpalatable to them.”
“In every meeting that we have had, there would be nothing to give me any thought that that bill could pass right now the way that it is,” she said. “There isn’t a market right now for proceeding with the full bill unless some big changes are made.”
There is a third ‘option’; no bill at all. And that’s what is going to happen.
Any bill will have to get thru the Senate, and Sen Elect Brown (R MA) is not going to vote for anything like the current Senate bill, nor are any of his fellow Republicans. As Merrill Goozner reports: “…In other words, if President Obama and the Democratic Party leadership had an inkling to reengage the leadership of the Republican Party, there wasn’t much evidence on display to suggest anyone on the other side would be offering a receptive ear.
New York Times columnist David Brooks attended the session. He prefaced his question by commenting that the common ground between the two parties appeared to be more like “common pebbles.”
More like common grains of sand, I’d say.”
On the other side of the aisle, there just isn’t the energy in Congress to re-do another bill; there’s too much on the calendar, it is an election year, and the Dems darn well better focus on issues more central to voters’ concerns.
It is possible the Dems will work on Medicare physician compensation, do something about pharma prices for Part D, and perhaps push some mild form of insurance underwriting reform, but not terribly likely. Instead, look for much more populist rhetoric and politicking, starting with the State of the Union address.
No matter what the Republicans had said about health reform, they will never vote on any form of health reform. Case closed. Wait another 20 or 30 years.
The health reform is not over.In reality health-care reform has likely been delayed,not defeated that’s because outside of the political shouting matches into which the health-care reform debate has degenerated we still have a huge problem