Legal Commentary

The Progressive "Victories" In The Health Bills

By Big Tent Democrat

Chris Bowers has a long post arguing that there are progressive wins in the health bills. At this point, there is not much more to say. Either you will believe it is so as Chris does and as the Village Dems will argue. Or you don't. This part made me chuckle though:

Medicaid--Even wash
Progressive proposal (House bill): 150% FPL eligibility with no exceptions; $425 billion in outlays; 15 million people covered

[. . .] How did it happen? By an odd circumlocution, [Ben] Nelson actually did something good for the bill. [. . .] Just about every state gets Ben Nelson's deal for Nebraska, now. The proposed outlays from the White House might exceed those in the House bill.

A big progressive win for Ben Nelson! Of course it wasn't. It was an escape hatch from the Cornhusker Kickback. I have advocated for a similar type of progressive win on the Stupak Problem. Chris has a different take:

9. Reproductive Rights--Mostly Conservadem victory

[. . .] Conservadem proposal (House bill): Stupak amendment that would prevent any insurance plan on the exchange from covering abortion procedures.

Result (Senate bill): Stupak amendment, but on an opt-out basis.

Umm, result? Maybe I missed it, but I thought the Stupak Problem had not been solved yet.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on March 08, 2010 (boomark / email).