White House: Democratic Only Health Care Bill Near Completion

8:48 pm EST February 18th, 2010 | News | 3 Comments

Frankly I think the ship has long since sailed on giving an inch to the GOP on this. The momentum to get the public option back in is gaining some ground in the senate (despite the apparent inclination of Harry Reid, who will likely lose his seat this fall – thank goodness), and the White House seems to be on board.

A senior administration official said Democratic congressional leaders have nearly finished efforts to reconcile two health bills, which the House and Senate passed separately last year with practically no Republican help. Obama will use their legislation to expand coverage to some 30 million and require most Americans to carry insurance as the basis for a proposal that the White House will post online by Monday, three days before the Feb. 25 summit, said the official.

He spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations.

The way to talk to the public on this is pretty easy. They asked the GOP for input, the GOP refused to be serious and didn’t want any compromise. The alternative was to leave people in worse shape or to fulfill the president’s campaign promise of health reform. They chose the option that helps America.

Do it, and do it now.

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3 Responses to “White House: Democratic Only Health Care Bill Near Completion”

  1. Jaim says:
    February 18, 2010 at 9:00 pm

    “Do it, and do it now.”

    Amen. Not passing a bill would set the Dems back for at least a decade. I think Obama is highly likely to be re-elected, but Americans will be hard pressed to think of reasons why they should equate electing Democratic congress-critters with their own self-interest if the Democratic party is so weak and ineffective on one of its bedrock issues. (Remember that Ted Kennedy guy?)

    That said, there’s some interesting chatter about what’s going on with this. I’m cautiously optimistic, for what it’s worth.

  2. Thad says:
    February 19, 2010 at 9:41 am

    I spent $300 on prescription drugs yesterday — and that’s after deciding “Well, I don’t REALLY need the nasal spray.” I’m waiting on reimbursement from my insurance, and I don’t know if I’ll get it or not. And there are tens of millions of people in this country who have it a lot worse than I do.

    I really hate the “mandate to purchase insurance from the assholes who have created this mess” bill. I’d love to see the Dems work the public option back in. They’ll catch rage from the right no matter WHAT they do, so using BS procedural tactics to get around another BS procedural tactic…my bank account and I are having a hard time seeing what’s wrong with that.

  3. Sean D. Martin says:
    February 19, 2010 at 8:28 pm

    They’ll catch rage from the right no matter WHAT they do

    When you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t, they you say “Screw it” and do what’s right.

    The Repubs will put up their hissy fit no matter what the Dems do because “No, not that!” is all they’ve got. No matter what “that” is.

    Just wish the Dems were closer in getting to the realization that working with the modern Repubs id a damned either way proposition so they should just stop worrying about whether someone doesn’t like them and do something.