Never before has the reality of their historic obstructionism been so obvious.

The government is paying these private plans 12% more than it would cost to cover the same people with traditional Medicare. Some of this extra money is used by private insurance to offer additional benefits to entice more customers, and some of it is just pocketed by the insurance companies. This attempt to use private insurance to save the government money has turned into an extremely costly failure.

Those advocating that everyone should stop working to pass (B), a bill with a public option, need to take responsibility for the fact that if that happens, the default at the moment is (A) a bill without a public option. It is not (C), nothing. It would be helpful to know why they think (A) is better than (B), because we’re not dealing in fantasy here, and that is the inevitable outcome in the scenario they are advancing.

The Senate officially begins debate on health care reform today at 3 pm. The floor debate will be live on C-Span 2. 3:04 – Reid calls this one of the most historic debates in Senate history. He points out the bill would reduce the deficit and expand coverage. Reid makes a point that the money [...]

Ruthless Unreformer

Let Harry Reid know the public option rests on his shoulders. Click here to sign our petition.

I’ve been doing this all wrong. I have been dutifully showing up roughly every Friday night and delivering this post for months now, and I have asked for nothing in return. Oh, sure, a compliment in the comments, or a link, or maybe even a bit of well-reasoned pushback—those are all good, but I don’t require that in advance to write this post. Hell, I don’t even expect, no less demand, that you read all the way to the end.

Well, I had a bit of a revelation today, and I am telling you, that all ends right here. I am holding out. No more Mr. Easy Post. I have some things I, um, need in advance.

Ed. Note: There has been a wealth of great analysis of the Senate’s new merged health care bill around the FDL sites today. In addition to Jon’s post here, please see Dave’s comprehensive rundown, his report on the biologics language, and his analysis of the long-term excise tax. And, see Jon’s posts going more in-depth on the move to gut state insurance regulations, the superior efficiency of the House bill, a comparison of abortion provisions, and the trigger beast that just won’t die. Also, always check out Jason’s daily health care news digest.

Abortion language in the merged Senate bill resembles that which was originally in the House bill–before the House adopted the Stupak amendment.

It is encouraging that Senator Reid respected the will of the American people and included a public option in the merged Senate bill. However, the addition of a state opt-out provision threatens to leave millions of Americans at the mercy of private insurance monopolies, with the federal government acting as enforcers for a product with [...]