Senate Dem: Health care bill 'on life support'

[The Northerner]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's health care appeal failed to break the congressional gridlock on Thursday, dimming hopes for millions of uninsured Americans. Democrats stared down a political nightmare — getting clobbered for voting last year for ambitious, politically risky bills, yet having nothing to show for it in November.

The grim reality opened a divide between the rank and file and congressional leaders, who insisted health care would get done, even though last week's special election in Massachusetts denied Democrats the 60-vote majority they need to deliver in the Senate. Many Democrats saw a problem with no clear solution.

"It's very possible that health care is just a stalemate and you can't solve it this year," said Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark.

If Obama and Democrats fail to pass any legislation this election year, Washington would still face the problem of millions of uninsured, rising medical costs and a dwindling Medicare trust fund forecast to run out of money in 2017.

Obama's health care overhaul is "on life support," said Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., "but it still has a pulse."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100128/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_overhaul

[bluestateguy]

1. Sounds like a lot of MSM crap

So unrec.

[Left Coast2020]

2. I don't believe it either.

[SlingBlade]

3. Senate Dem : Your PARTY is on life support

Fucking Wake Up !

[eridani]

4. Put the damn public option back in and take the highly unpopular excise tax out

No public option = no mandate.

[cufford]

5. Done deal

You can bet that, since whatever form this so-called "Reform" bill takes it will, ironically, benefit the big health corporations and make things worse for the people of this country - like most other bills, having been written by them, to be enacted by our legislative prostitutes in Congress - that it will most certainly be passed sooner or later. That's a given.

While the worthy concept of reforming our health care system in this country may have been it's genesis, it was quickly hijacked by those big corporate interests who are profiting wildly under the current system, and who realized an obvious opportunity to turn this effort into a further cash-cow for them. It was obvious to me last year that whatever did pass, would no longer contain any meaningful "reforms", but to the contrary consist of further government-sanctioned raping of this country's people.

The sad reality is that whatever laws are passed these days benefit big corporations and the super-rich families in this country, at the expense of the rest of us. The rest is just a stage show consisting of smoke and mirrors.

And this will, of course, only get worse.

It's game-over in this country. Get used to it.

[JDPriestly]

6. Don't worry. California is going to try single payer, and that will change the whole game.

[harun]

7. You think they can get the gubbernator on board? If so it would change

everything.

[Posteritatis]

8. Until Arnold vetoes it or a proposition bans it in November. (nt)