While to most people in greater America this would seem like common sense, it is amazing how many people inside the Beltway will find this news mind-boggling. A new poll shows that the majority of Americans in many states don’t object to Democrats using reconciliation to pass health care reform if they think the bill [...]

Now that Martha Coakley has lost, it seems that there are only two paths to passing health care reform–and both use reconciliation. One path would be a new, redesigned bill passed using reconciliation. The other would be to force the House to pass the Senate bill as is. Given that the Senate bill is unlikely [...]

If you ever wonder if large corporate interest groups have too much power in Washington, here is your answer: Congressional leaders are asking the pharmaceutical industry to cough up an additional $10 billion to help pay for the healthcare overhaul as they search for revenue to fund what will likely be a more expensive final [...]

SENATOR DORGAN: The amendment we are offering, a bipartisan amendment dealing with the price of prescription drugs, is a very important amendment. We are going to get our vote on that, but then there is also going to be a vote on a poison pill amendment that nullifies it. It says if you pass the second amendment, it means nothing happens and prescription drug prices keep going through the roof.

Last night, we witnessed the sad defeat of Dorgan’s drug re-importation amendment, which would have saved American consumers billions on their prescription drugs. Allowing Americans to buy cheaper drugs from Canada or Europe was one of Obama’s campaign promise on health care. Allowing drug re-importation was instrumental to a variety of campaign promise made by [...]

During a conference call with reports Peter Orszag defended the Senate health care reform bill’s minor cost-control measures: Orszag suggested that others who have questioned the bill haven’t been as thorough as Brownstein. He noted that The Atlantic reporter identified specific pages of the bill while interviewing him for the piece. “I would say to [...]