Source:
Washington PostAn emerging consensus among a bipartisan group of senators is poised to shift the dynamic in the congressional debate over health-care reform, and could lead to a final product that sheds many of the priorities that President Obama has emphasized and that have drawn GOP attacks.
Three Democrats and three Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee are expected to wrap up their arduous multi-week talks in the coming days, and Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said he anticipates a panel vote before the Senate recess, which will begin Aug. 7.
Assuming the fragile committee coalition holds, the legislation it produces would scramble the reform landscape by introducing policy ideas that have their origins in the political center. The bill is bound to disappoint liberals. But with prominent GOP backing, it also could prove more difficult for Republicans to reject out of hand the approach they have taken to the House bill and a second Senate version, written by the health committee.
The finance panel's legislation is expected to include incentives for employers to provide health insurance for their workers, rather than a more punitive coverage mandate. The committee is also likely to endorse narrowly targeted tax increases, rejecting a controversial tax surcharge on wealthy households that the House adopted and limits on deductions for upper-income taxpayers that Obama is seeking. . .
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/28/AR2009072803173.html?hpid=topnews
So that's it. The rich keep every dime of their Bush tax cuts, pay nothing towards this, and this "reform" is funded instead by slashing Medicare beneficiary benefits, which are already at the breaking point.
Figures. Plus, no doubt, mandatory insurance for 20 somethings with lip service about age rating and pre-existing conditions, but the insurance industry gets everybody in the pool without covering us all, and finding no problemo in denying a 58 year old with a pre-existing condition. Or imposing a $1,000 per month premium with an $8,000 deductible, just to save face. Sweet deal.