Reid sends "opt out" public option to the CBO - Lieberman already jumps ship (Part 2)

October 27, 3:50 PMWorcester County Progressive ExaminerThomas Deusser

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 Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) (senate.gov)

Click here for:    Part 1    Part 3

This is why the “opt out” was such a dumb idea. It allows Governors to play with people's lives simply to play national politics. Instead of raising the general level of health care all over the country, the public option will only reach those that already have a reasonable level of health care.

The sad part is, the party of “no” and “you lie” continues to block this at every turn without offering a viable alternative. One has to almost wonder if Republicans remember how to write laws, as opposed to sorry looking three-page bullet point statements and calling them laws. Reid, for the moment, seems to have lost Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), who said yesterday, “I am deeply disappointed with the majority leader's decision to include a public option as the focus of the legislation.”

“For the moment” because Snowe (and fellow Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R)) did a bit of this “there's no way we're voting for this” stuff before voting for the stimulus package. Close to 70% of Mainiacs, er, Mainers support a public option; and Snowe (and to a lesser degree Collins) is taking some brutal attack ads on her back home. One can only wonder if those ads will be effective.

And the blue dogs … how can we forget the blue dogs. One of the big ones is Sen. Mary Landrieu, (D-LA – State Rank in Health Care: 49th), who said of the bill going to the Congressional Budget Office for scoring, that she's "very skeptical" of a public option, but that "I look forward to reviewing the specific language" of the legislation and learning more about its cost. She also said "I'm not right now inclined to support any filibuster. For the Republican Party to kind of step out of the game is very unfortunate. I'm not going to be joining people that don't want progress." Well, there's that.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln, (D-AR – State Rank in Health Care: 36th – Rank in money taken from the health insurance lobby in 2009: 1st) said last week that she'd ruled out supporting a government-funded and operated plan. However she said Monday that she'd have to see the legislation's language and assess its impact on her state before she decided how to vote. More than 60% of Arkansans want a public health insurance option.

Sen. Kent Conrad, (D-ND – Rank in money taken from the insurance lobby in 2009 - 3rd), is "still discussing with the leadership what's really in the public option," Conrad's been a strong opponent of any public option with provider reimbursement rates tied to Medicare's, saying that his state's medical community is poorly paid. Which is totally legitimate, the doctors are underpaid in his area. There should be able to be a quick fix whipped up via amendment to help that. He hasn't ruled out backing a public system in which providers negotiate rates, which Reid said he would support.

The formerly cared about AHIP (America's Health Insurance Plans, the industry trade group which sent “the report” the day before the Senate Finance Committee was to vote on the Baucus Bill) was quick to criticize Reid's decision. Shocking, indeed.

"A new government-run plan would underpay doctors and hospitals rather than driving real reforms that bring down costs and improve quality. The American people want health care reform that will reduce costs, and this plan doesn't do that," said Karen Ignagni, the group's president.

Joining AHIP in their righteous indignation was the party of “no” and “you lie”. "While final details of this bill are still unknown, here's what we do know: It will be a thousand-page, trillion-dollar bill that raises premiums, raises taxes and slashes Medicare for our seniors to create new government spending programs," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Translation? “I haven't seen it, but I know that NO and YOU LIE.” Thank you, Senator McConnell for that fresh perspective.

Conventional Wisdom is that Reid would never have sent the bill to the CBO unless he thought he could get 60 votes to approve cloture. However, he may have been thrown a curveball today. Earlier this afternoon, Politico reported this:

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Tuesday that he’d back a GOP filibuster of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s health care reform bill.
Lieberman, who caucuses with Democrats and is positioning himself as a fiscal hawk on the issue, said he opposes any health care bill that includes a government-run insurance program — even if it includes a provision allowing states to opt out of the program, as Reid’s has said the Senate bill will.

All that needs to be said about that is that Sen. Lieberman should be very careful next time he's in Connecticut. Not only is he arrogant enough to ignore the results of his primary and beg to run in the general election; but now he's spurned everything he's previously worked for, and is a Democrat no more, for sure.

I don't know how long Sen. Reid is going to wait to throw Sen. Lieberman out of the caucus, but if he hasn't by now, he probably won't. Although it would be interesting. I don't know that the Republicans necessarily want him. It would be interesting to see a Senator with no caucus.

Click here for:    Part 1    Part 3

   "Joe Lieberman: I'll block vote on Harry Reid's plan" - Politico - (10/27/09)