The Twelve Days of Health Care

At 7:16 this morning, the world of American health care changed forever. Or did it? I’m torn between any of three reactions: something is better than nothing, the Senate bill—sans a government option—is a lousy bill, and they’ll never reconcile House and Senate bills.
If you like this bill—or are just happy to have anything—this Christmas Eve vote is a fine present. The Senate doesn’t often hang out for business until December 24. It must have exhausted everybody—the Washington Post reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid got mixed up and nearly voted “No” to a burst of laughter in the chamber.
The Democrats—as Reid amended—got their sixty votes, just that. Not a Republican backed the idea of universal health care. It sounds as if a lot of Republicans, like my friend’s Republican Senator uncle, nearly fifty years ago, still feel that if you cannot afford health care, “you should die”.
I still wish Obama had gotten on the phone—ala Lyndon Johnson—and fought for the public option, but posturing in Copenhagen seemed to trump that. Copenhagen worked out like driving a sleigh across a snowless roof, but it was more important than health care.
Apparently Harry Reid deserves the credit for this one. For one thing, just keeping the Senate in session until Santa got his sled loaded is no mean feat! You have to credit Harry with fighting for a public option until the bitter end.
That’s when ex-Democrat Joe Lieberman announced that he would vote against health care if there were any public option in the bill. (He reversed his position on that since early spring when he was for it—the insurance industry is powerful in Connecticut—his state.)
Threatening to scuttle the whole health care bill to protect Connecticut’s insurance giants, Lieberman got the single payer, private option tossed out. That this would be the only meaningful way of controlling medical costs was incidental.
So Harry did what he had to and bit the bullet. You simply cannot make a dollar out of sixty-five cents. Sometimes you just have to admit that you really don’t have enough for the fare. Reid bowed to reality and eliminated the public option.
Of course it is still in the House bill. If the House gets sticky about it (the House bill only passed by five votes), will Lieberman torpedo the whole thing in the final vote? He could allow the Republicans to shut down the whole bill while they filibuster until next Christmas—all very possible without Lieberman’s 60th vote.
Obama is expressing optimism that the process of reconciling the House and Senate bills will go swiftly and smoothly. Others are not so sure. There are trip wires and land mines in both versions—things the House has vowed not to vote for in the Senate bill and things the Senate won’t be happy with in the House version.
It’s a bit too early to cheer—but I won’t begrudge the Senate its eggnog—with a wee drop of something celebratory in it.