Here are the FDL Action health care reform highlights for Wednesday, November 18.1. Jane Hamsher reports that voting is now open for the Public Option Please (POP) art contest. There are six finalists, vote now!
2. Jon Walker writes that "it seems [Senator Thomas] Carper [D-DE] has completely reinvented (cribbed? copied?) Snowe’s trigger proposal, and must be hoping no one notices." Whoops, we noticed! :)
3. Jon Walker writes about a new CBS News poll which "found that a majority of Americans (51%) want Congress to pass a health care bill with a public option." Only 26% of Americans prefer "no bill at all," while an even smaller share (16%) would like a health care bill without a public option. Part of that 16%, of course, is Joe Lieberman, who is now being asked by "Concerned Clergy of Connecticut", "what is it that your conscience tells you?" A scary thought, indeed.
4. Jane Hamsher urges women to "get realistic about your uteruses." I think I'll just let Jane explain this one. LOL.
5. Jon Walker analyzes the Capps, Ellsworth, Stupak, and Senate Finance language on abortion.
6. Jon Walker says that "Ben Nelson is unlikely to block allowing debate to proceed on health care reform" because - get this - he fears that if he doesn't, the legislation would move ahead under reconcilation and turn out less "moderate" (e.g., more progressive) than he and his pal Joe Lieberman would prefer. And that would be a bad thing, apparently. Got it.
7. Jon Walker writes that the Senate health care bill, at long last, will be unveiled tonight, with a vote possible on the motion to proceed as early as Saturday night. Of course, as Walker points out, "allowing a bill to be debated on the Senate floor is a long way from allowing the final up-or-down vote needed to pass the bill out of the Senate." Hey, after decades of waiting, why rush this thing? (snark)
8. I blog about a story in North Decoder on Kent "Coop" Conrad calling Blue Cross/Blue Shield of North Dakota "irresponsible" for a mailing it did on health care reform. What’s hilarious is that Conrad has been the biggest proponent of health care cooperatives, yet that’s exactly what “irresponsible” BCBS of North Dakota hopes to be under federal legislation. Nice, huh? :)
