Here are the FDL Action health care reform highlights for Friday, November 20.1. Jon Walker asks, "Is Harry Reid Laying The Ground Work To Betray Progressives For Snowe’s Vote?" In the end, Walker concludes, "Reid does have the power to get a public option passed, there is no good excuse for failure." Cool, so don't fail! :)
2. Jon Walker says that "the crack team of reporters at the Washington Post don’t know how to read" and that they "make the ridiculous claim that the public option would not be able to keep down costs." Other than that, they totally know what they're talking about. Heh.
3. Jon Walker discusses why the House bill is much more "small c" conservative than the Senate bill. In short, the House bill "would do a better job of maintaining a health care system similar to the one we currently have" and the "reason for this is the employer mandate."
4. David Dayen reports that "Ron Wyden has reached agreement with the leadership to get an amendment into the bill which would allow as many as 1 million additional individuals who get health care from their employers to participate on the insurance exchanges, including selecting the public option." Dayen believes that this could "lead to significant changes in the current health system by expanding the risk pool in the exchanges, strengthening them, and setting a precedent for moving away from the employer-based system." The Republicans' worst nightmare, in other words.
5. David Dayen reports that Bill Clinton told FDL’s Eve Gittelson that it would be problematic for him to attend a free medical clinic being held in Little Rock, Arkansas tomorrow because MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann had 'politicized” the event.'" Huh?
6. David Dayen says that while "{e}veryone's talking about the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and their imposition into the legislative debate over health care, particularly abortion," the there's also their "opposition to a restrictive provision in the Senate bill that would ban undocumented immigrants from purchasing health insurance on the exchange with their own money." Go Catholic Bishops on this one!
7. Jon Walker asks, "Why Does The Senate Bill Create Two Exchanges?" The answer: "I have been unable to find a good reason why the decision was made to create two separate marketplaces." Well, that's comforting! :)
8. Finally, tomorrow (Saturday) at 8pm eastern time is the big vote to proceed to debate on health care reform legislation in the U.S. Senate. We'll see how it goes, but there's little doubt that conservadems love their leverage in this process. Thrilling, no?
