Senator Reid (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The United States Senate takes up the massive health-care bill introduced by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) today. Whether the Democratic caucus can muster the 60 votes that will be required to achieve cloture (that is, to end debate and vote on the bill itself) is an open question.
Many of the Senators who voted to proceed to debate have stated that if the so-called "public option" remains in the bill, they will vote against cloture. On the other hand, other Senators have said that they will vote against cloture if the "public option" is removed.
An even more contentious issue is the funding of abortion services. On that, says Fox News, no compromise is likely.
Senator McConnell, at podium (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
As a further complication, the Congressional Budget Office released another 29-page cost analysis of the Reid bill, concentrating on health-insurance premiums. They concluded that individual health-insurance policy buyers (those not in any group) could see their premiums rise by 10 to 13 percent, primarily because the bill would force them to buy much more insurance than typical non-group plans currently provide. Half of those affected would qualify for subsidies, and those subsidies could cut their premiums by more than half as opposed to current law. The CBO analysis says nothing about who would qualify for such subsidies, and who would not. Purchasers of group health insurance would be affected little, if at all, and the promised savings in health-care insurance premiums would likely apply only to purchasers of large-group policies and amount to not more than three percent.
The office of Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) reiterated Senator Lautenberg's previous statements in support of the "public option," but declined comment on whether the Senator would vote against the bill if the public option were discarded. The office of Senator Robert Menendez referred all press inquiries to voice mail.
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