Here are the FDL Action health care reform highlights for Thursday, November 19.1. Jon Walker lays out "eight things wrong with the Senate health care bill," beginning with "Delays Start Until 2014" and including "Nationwide Plans Gutting State Regulation." Definitely a few things that need to be fixed here.
2. Jane Hamsher has a statement from FDL on the Senate health care bill. The statement concludes, "If Harry Reid truly cares about fighting for the good of the country over the good of Wellpoint, he will immediately dispense with the opt-out and move to reconciliation and allow a majority in the Senate to deliver to Americans what they want and desperately need." Unfortunately, it doesn't appear at the moment that Reid is so inclined.
3. Speaking of the opt-out, Jon Walker writes that the "CBO has concluded that the design of the opt-out provision will end up denying the public option to roughly a third of the population in this country." Needless to say, that would not be good.
4. Jon Walker identifies the "most frightening line in the CBO report," regarding risk adjustment mechanisms in the Senate bill that are "dangerously weak." According to Walker, "that might not sound scary, but that line should strike fear in the hearts of any health care policy expert." Find out why by clicking here.
5. Jon Walker writes that "at the request of AHIP, [the] Senate bill guts state health insurance regulations." Walker says that this "is a dramatic move by the federal government, forcing states to deregulate their health insurance markets," and that it could "gut state health insurance regulations and create a race to the bottom." Other than that, it's great! (snark)
6. Jon Walker examines the House and Senate health care bills and concludes that the House bill is 12% more cost-effective than the Senate bill.
7. Jon Walker analyzes "how the Senate abortion language differs from Stupak". In short, the Stupak amendment "would make it practically impossible for any insurance provider to offer abortion coverage on the exchange for a variety of financial and legal reasons."
8. Jane Hamsher contrasts Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) "hold[ing] health care...hostage" while Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter "brings Olbermann clinics to Arkansas." Quite a contrast.
9. Finally, Jon Walker reports that, "{l}ike a monster in some B horror movie," Tom Carper is now working with Olympia Snowe "to bring back the trigger, which [Carper] has comically named the 'hammer.'" The hammer? What, is this named after Tom DeLay or something? Weird.
