Oh hell, let's just have Obama issue an executive order.

[Writer]

EO 8675309 The Health Care Bill Plan Thing


To: Amurkins

From: Your Prez

Re: Health Care Reform

Date: Like, right now!


All ya'll get health care insurance coverage from now on, okay? Just call me, and we'll set things up.


BO.

[SIMPLYB1980]

1. DO IT!!!!11!!

[Honeycombe8]

2. Has Obama ever said that's what he thought should be done?

No, he hasn't.

[Davis_X_Machina]

9. But DU'ers have.

Link

[Writer]

10. Wow. And the OP was supposed to be a complete joke.

:yoiks:

[LooseWilly]

3. Use reconciliation to extend Medicare opt-in to all "Amurkins" you say? Brilliant!

:+

[Ozymanithrax]

6. If the Senate passes a bill, we can only hope they try and do that.

But they have to pass a Senate Bill bofore they can reconcile the Senate and House Bills.

[LooseWilly]

8. Heh... this reconciliation that I mention would require starting over from scratch...

The Senate pile of shite is.. a pile of shite... unless the Senate can face down a filibuster...

[Ozymanithrax]

11. I've heard that from Republcans.

How is that going to be better?

If the Senate Bill fails, there will be no other bill. Republicans know that. So should we.

[LooseWilly]

14. I was employing a trick of word association to make an ideational switch under the nose of the BS OP

... as, technically, reconciliation is a different procedure than Conference Committe/Conference Report voting to create a uniform bill for both the Senate and the House to pass.

Reconciliation is a budgetary vote special rule, apparently. It can only be used for passing budgetary legislation (the technical details of what constitutes budgetary legislation vs. generic legislation I leave to your imagination... as I'm getting too tired to produce a florid guess just now). Since Medicare is an already established program... apparently extending it to everyone, rather than solely providing it as an option to those 65+, would be a budgetary matter. As such, reconciliation could be used... and would only require 51 votes, with no filibuster option available to the "minority".

On the other hand... the Senate bill, in its current form, or in a form that includes a Public Option, or even the form that included a Medicare buy in to go with recission regulations, etc. ... is not budgetary in nature, and so can not be passed under the rules of Reconciliation. Thus, the filibuster is very much an option. And, even should the Senate pass a huge steaming pile of Lieberman shit bill, and then try to "fix it" in the process of the Conference Committee's production of a Conference Report... wherein they try to produce a "hybrid" bill between the House and the Senate versions... the problem is that the Senate can then filibuster the Conference Report, just like they are currently filibustering the Senate bill... and as there's no reason to believe they wouldn't do this if the Conference Committe produced a Conference Report version of the bill that didn't conform to the Steaming Pile of Lieberman Shit that eventually might pass the Senate... the idea of the Conference Committee "fixing" the bill turns out to be a pipe-dream...

Hence, when the OP seems to mean to mention the Conference Report, but refers to it as "reconciliation"... I chose to run with the mistake and use it, technically correctly, but not in line with the meaning intended, to point out the reconciliation possibilities of just extending Medicare to all... largely in order to entertain myself... and at least to some degree because I'm a bad human being who was enjoying taunting a BS OP...

:+

[Ozymanithrax]

15. My mistake, lets send the bill to conference.

Thanks, in the heat of a discussion, I sometimes use the wrong word.

[Clio the Leo]

4. It's what President Cheney would have done.

I TRIED to tell yall that but NOOOO!!!

[dflprincess]

5. I don't want health "insurance coverage"

I want access to care. That's what most people want - the ability to see their doctor when they need to and not having to worry about what it will cost. Just like in civilized countries.

[Writer]

7. Okay, Jenny. I've got your number.

Sincerely,

The Prez.

[bigwillq]

12. ha ha

that made me laugh. :rofl:

[avaistheone1]

13. Obama had no problem using the bully pulpit to aid the Wall Street banksters.

And Obama certainly was not timid about escalating the fiasco in Afghanistan, so why not use his position to do something that would really help the American people like some decent health care reform instead of this handout to the health insurance companies?

[uponit7771]

16. LOFL!!!