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. CBO’s analysis took into account the probability that some states would opt not to allow the public plan to be offered to their residents. Rather than trying [...]

It is time to acknowledge that the Senate process is broken and undemocratic, and is working against the interests of the American people. It is too easily gamed by lobbyist money and has become unresponsive to the needs of small businesses struggling to pay for the health care costs of their employees at a time when unemployment is skyrocketing. The Senate filibuster — and the ability of any one Senator to hold the entire body hostage on behalf of lobbying interests — must come to an end.

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.

I’ve begun my preliminary examination of the new, merged Senate health care reform bill. So far, my first impression is pretty negative. There are many bad provisions that I think need to be changed or removed. Here are eight I noticed last night: 1) Delays Start Until 2014 – One of my biggest criticisms is [...]

Harry Reid took the public option nearly unchanged from the Senate HELP committee Bill and put it in the merged bill. It is called the “Community Health Insurance Option.” Besides the addition of a very bad, unlimited, pre-reform opt-out provision, Reid made almost no changes. The only changes besides the addition of the opt-out provision [...]

Dayen has a liveblog of Reid’s announcement of the Senate bill. It will score as $849 billion, and save $127 billion over the next decade. Kent Conrad Calls Blue Cross/Blue Shield North Dakota “irresponsible,” It is a good thing he wants to model our health care system on co-ops like them. Ben Nelson sounds like [...]

The public option in the merged Senate bill is called the “Community Health Insurance Option.” Harry Reid attached an opt-out provision to the public option. Any state can choose to not allow the public option to be offered their state. To opt-out, a state must pass a law to stop the public option from being [...]

Mary Landrieu (D-LA), along with Ben Nelson, Blanche Lincoln, and Joe Lieberman is seen as one of the biggest obstacles in the way of getting a health care bill with a public option through the Senate. Her previous statements about the public option have been very negative. After coming out of a Wednesday meeting with [...]

North Decoder has a story that would be hilarious if it weren’t so…on second thought, it’s hilarious! :) This has got to be the most dishonest piece of corporate bull that I have seen in some time. Blue Cross wants a better bottom line and they’re not ashamed of it. If you are a Blue [...]

Politico is reporting that Harry Reid plans to publicly unveil the merged Senate health care reform bill tomorrow afternoon (Correction: the bill will be unveiled tonight). After months of waiting, and endless delays, we will finally see the health care reform bill that will be brought to the Senate floor. (Dayen has some details about provisions [...]

Ben Nelson is unlikely to block allowing debate to proceed on health care reform. His justification is that he fears what kind of bill would result if he did vote no: If opponents prevent consideration of the revised Senate Finance Committee legislation, Nelson said, Democratic supporters “most likely” would turn to the budget reconciliation process [...]