As another eventful week in health care reform comes to a close, here are the FDL Action health care highlights for Friday, October 16.1. David Dayen reports that the latest CBO score of the merged House health care bill shows it "actually costs around $900 billion or less, and cover more Americans than the SFC bill – and that’s WITH a public option." Dayen quotes Howard Dean: “What’s going on in the House is much better than what’s going on in the Senate… Pelosi is doing a terrific job in the House.” A not-so-subtle jab at Harry Reid?
2. Jon Walker writes that Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) "has told the local Arkansas News that she is open to Olympia Snowe’s worthless trigger idea." Walker adds, "Lincoln believes it is more important to give large, for-profit health insurance corporations another chance to play nice, than it is to provide the people of Arkansas a public option that would save them around $1,300 a year on premiums." But of course, isn't that what being a Democrat is all about? (snark)
3. David Dayen reports on a rumor by "anonymous Senate aides saying that the merged bill may not include a public option." And in related news, "[Joe] Lieberman tells the New Haven Register that he is 'inclined' to invoke cloture, but 'I haven’t decided yet.'" Two words spring to mind: "insufferable" and "egomaniac." Actually, several more words spring to mind, but most of them are not suitable for a family blog. Heh.
4. Jon Walker says that Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) has jumped on the "'blame Reid for killing the public option' bandwagon." According to Walker's analysis, the "message is clear, if the bill brought to the Senate floor by Reid has a public option, there are not the votes to remove it." Which means that if Harry Reid "chooses to include a public option in the merged bill, it is almost assured that there will be a public option." OK, Mr. Majority Leader, this is what they pay you the big bucks for! :)
5. Jon Walker writes about Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR) "being super unhelpful (again)" by pretending to support opening Medicare to all. The problem is, Ross is obviously not serious about this. As Walker correctly points out, "Suggesting alternatives that can’t even secure your own vote is a waste of everyone’s time."
6. Jon Walker inquires whether Harry Reid will "let his caucus...be ruled by a tiny handful of senators or will he stand with the vast majority of his party" on the public option. Given that "none of the five Democrats opposed to the public option have publicly given any indication they would let the whole of health care reform die because it contained a public option," this should not be a difficult question to answer.
7. Finally, Jon Walker reports on yet another "headache" for Harry Reid, this time the "$245 billion Medicare payment fix to buy off the AMA," specifically by addressing the "Medicare sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula." Man, just reading this stuff gives me a headache sometimes! :)