Excerpt:
When the word reconciliation and health care bill are used in the same phrase, most may think compromise.
Reconciliation, however, is a little-talked about, but well-known and perfectly legal Senate process that can be used to pass any bill with 51 votes rather than the 60 votes Democrats have been saying is necessary.
Reconciliation can be used to pass bills if they are justified in terms of reconciling the budget – that is, if the bill can be justified in terms of changing current law in order to bring revenue, spending, and debt-limit levels into conformity with the policies of the annual budget resolution.
Howard Dean, former Gov. of Vermont and former DNC chairman, told political reporter Bob Kinzel today on Vermont Public Radio that the removal of the Medicare buy-in means the Senate health care bill is no longer worth supporting. “This is essentially the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate.” According to Greg Sargent at The Plum Line, Dean also said, “honestly the best thing to do right now is kill the Senate bill, go back to the House, start the reconciliation process, where you only need 51 votes and it would be a much simpler bill.”
The only real question is, will the Senate Democrats have enough courage to do that? If recent developments are any indication, probably not. The bottom line at this point may be: Either Democrats use their power now, or lose it in 2010. Oh and…reconciliation would be a fitting way to kick Joe Lieberman to the curb.
Read more here: http://www.examiner.com/x-23316-Madison-Independent-Examiner~y2009m12d16-Kill-the-health-care-bill-time-for-reconciliation
There is an exorbitant amount of cost going into and surrounding the establishment of this bill. However these costs are only in addition to the overall cost of health care. Complete health care reform is necessary, not simply the provider care reform which we are currently awaiting. . According to Eva Mor author of (Making the Golden Years Golden), “The administration of the existing health delivery system is bloated with waste and unnecessary cost. If information was shared by all providers of health services and all insurers by using computerized systems to store all medical records, it would cut costs and reduce errors that would save and improve lives.” http://www.ourblook.com/component/option,com_sectionex/Itemid,200076/id,8/view,category/#catid107
Preventative care is something we need desperately in this country so the real question is going to be, how do we get it? Especially when there are so many parties who have private interests at stake in the face of reform. Health care is a public service which every American will eventually require at some point in their lives, however as it stands, health care has been diluted by bureaucracy, industry, and politics.
Comment by Maguire — December 19, 2009 @ 1:46 pm