My parents were both organizers. I work in an office full of organizers. Believe me when I say that I know different communities have vastly different needs. And believe me when I say that using different colored checks to pay Doctors in different states will not make a difference.

And that is all the co-ops will do. They will pay Doctors.

In the end I’d rather have some reform than none at all. Especially if it gets rid of the preexisting condition clause. Because THAT is the most important reform we can bring to the health care industry, and I find that may Dems are losing focus of that.

Oh I agree with that. I simply doubt that leftist insistence on the public option will be enough to kill the bill completely if it has enough support to pass without the public option.

It could kill a Senate bill because Conrad is so attached to co-ops that he would filibuster it. Then we’d need at least one of Maine’s ladies to break the filibuster, and that may be tricky when the public option is in the bill. But remember it may also not be tricky. Snowe and Collins haven’t really commented on the issue.

But it’s probably not enough to kill a House Bill. Pelosi only needs 14 Blue Dogs to get to 218, and it’s very possible that she could beg, borrow, or bribe that many votes if she really wanted to. Heck she doesn’t need 218. She just needs to keep the no votes to 203, so if she can convince half the Blue Dogs to vote Present she’s fine.

And if that works we’ll have a conference committee. I doubt any democrat will filibuster the Conference Report, because it will be that or nothing. And it’s unlikely the ladies from Maine would vote to sustain a filibuster to the Conference Report anyway because it’s in their best interest to get a program passed.

What I think is clear from where we are right now is that Obama can’t get the Blue Dogs to agree to the public option so Dems are going to have to settle for a distributed public system that offers competition. But it’s still competition, so insurance company’s profits aren’t necessarily protected.

And as I’ve said in the past, there’s nothing to suggest that this type of system won’t ultimately be better for us in the long run given that different communities have different health care needs, different costs, etc.

In the end I’d rather have some reform than none at all. Especially if it gets rid of the preexisting condition clause. Because THAT is the most important reform we can bring to the health care industry, and I find that may Dems are losing focus of that.

Shhh, don’t tell anyone but we have to protect insurance company profits.

It’s not our fault the bill hasn’t come to the Senate floor yet. The trouble is a group of moderates on the Senate Finance Committee can’t agree on anything.

It’s not our fault the House didn’t pass a Bill before it broke for August. The Blue Dogs were the ones who asked for a delay.

I still haven’t seen a good policy reason to oppose it. The logic seems to be that liberals really want it, therefore it must be liberal, therefore it is by not moderate, and all not moderate things must be opposed.