In the midst of all the outrage against the Senate health care monstrosity, we should remember that women are not the only demographic getting thrown under the bus.

The National Nurses United, a brand new union created earlier this month and the largest professional group of nurses in the country, officially opposes the Senate health care bill. NNU, a member of the AFL-CIO, slammed the Senate bill as a giveaway to the insurance industry that falls far short of real reform.

The gift this country needs most this holiday season is an economy built on a solid foundation, one that will provide middle class, family-supporting jobs now and into the future. Not more fancy derivatives, this economy needs basic manufacturing.

John Ensign and Orrin Hatch may have forced the Senate’s hand on a key element of health care reform — the individual mandate.

Ed Hanway, CEO of Cigna, one of the nation’s largest health insurance companies, will step down at the end of this year, in just over a week. When he does, he’ll get $73,200,000 as compensation for a job well done.

[Ed. Note: Dave has more evidence of Candidate/President Obama's presto-change-o on "Change."] Instead of honestly admitting that the bill working its way through Congress does not fully meet his campaign promises, Obama has decided the proper strategy is to just lie to the American people: [Obama] said the Senate legislation accomplishes “95 percent” of what [...]

Republicans, eager to get home for Christmas, have agreed to give back some of their debate time which delayed the inevitable, setting up a final vote on the Senate health care bill on December 24, this Thursday, at 8am ET. Previously, the Senate would have had to wait, if the Republicans stretched out the clock, to 8pm that night or even later. Now they can achieve the vote and be back in their states in time for the Christmas goose.

Harold Pollack is clearly pleased that a lot of money is being directed to help people (even if it is in a very wasteful way). On the other hand, I see this large number, and it fills me with terror.

This is what I said:

In 2000, the Republicans passed Medicare Part D, and it had no negotiation for prescription drug prices. And then in 2006, when the Democrats took over Congress, the first thing they did was say “hey, we’re going to roll that back, we’re going to allow for [negotiation of] prescription drug prices to be passed. But now that they actually have the chance, they’re not doing it. And you’ve got people like Jeff Sessions on the floor of the Senate saying this is criminal, this deal is criminal, but he didn’t vote for it in 2000 or 2006 when he had the chance. So we’re sort of looking at a situation where people on the right, people on the left, are looking at the Senate, and they’re saying “nobody’s there representing us. Nobody’s representing the people.” It’s just a matter of who’s in power and who’s taking PhRMA’s money.

Good riddance.