Durbin sees “minefield” in Senate health-care debate
Durbin
WASHINGTON — As the No. 2 Democratic leader in the Senate, Illinois’ Dick Durbin has the task of marshaling votes for the health insurance overhaul championed by his party and his president.
Sounds like he might not see success any time soon.
“We’re walking through a minefield and 60 senators need to be there at the end, and many of them have strongly held beliefs,” Durbin said in an interview, referring to the three-fifths vote requirement to overcome a certain GOP filibuster.
“It’s going to be very dangerous getting through because you have to win some senators over without turning off other senators,” he added.
Durbin only has to look as far as his fellow Illinoisan in the Senate, Roland Burris, to see one of the obstacles. Burris, a fill-in courtesy of ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, has vowed to oppose any health-care bill lacking provisions for a public option to inject competition into the health insurance business.
And Burris spokesman Jim O’Connor tells STLtoday that Burris “is still solid” in his vow.
Durbin observed that several moderates in the Senate are distinctly cool toward the government entering the insurance business, mentioning just one.
“When you see senators like Sen. (Joe) Lieberman saying never, I’m wondering how will you get a public option at the end of the day? I sincerely hope we have one,” Durbin said.
Hoping to buck up the caucus as they wait for a Congressional Budget Office price tag on the latest Senate version of reform, Democrats brought in former President Bill Clinton today for some of that famous Clintonian exhortation. Clinton, who discovered the perils of taking on the health-care establishment during his first term, told reporters afterward: “It’s not important to be perfect here, it’s important to act, to move, to start the ball rolling.”
Perhaps, but it’s becoming increasingly unlikely that Democrats will meet the goal of the current Democratic president to send a bill to the Oval Office by year’s end. Durbin said that getting a final bill through a Senate-House conference could be just as challenging as passing something through the Senate.
For his part, Durbin says he’s committed to getting legislation out of the Senate by Christmas. ”That is our goal and that is what we’re going to do,” he said.
What if Clinton had abandon his “perfect or nothing bill” in 94 and passed something like this bill. Would it be possible that we would be making improvements to health care rather than starting from scratch?
I think history has shown that few things are really set in stone and that our laws are frequently changing and being modified. To form a more perfect union. While this may not be the perfect bill, it is the beginning. That may be one thing supporters and opponents can agree upon.I also think that it could be the final warning to insurers to shape up or you will be thrown out. They could get just enough rope to hang themselves. If they continue to bully the people, then the single-payer hand will be forced. Maybe I’m just seeing the glass half-full.
A beginning of over a trillion dollars? And it will only get more expensive from there?
It’s time to go back to the drawing board and develop a better plan.
How do you spell failure in 2009? C-O-N-G-R-E-S-S
There’s no way to accurately forecast the costs and economic benefits of Health care reform. Modernizing our health care delivery system is complex and multi-faceted; approaching it in a linear manner is self-defeating. We have to use common sense.
Policies in information systems, transportation, education, agriculture, infrastructure, et al. are being over hauled; those changes will also result in savings that can’t be quantified. The federal government is the one entity in position to affect all these segments. While some worry about a shortage of GPs, others are working to modernize state licensing laws that reduce doctors’ workloads by permitting dental technicians and nurse practitioners to use more of their training. Providing incentives for preventative care will obviously be cheaper than our current ‘sick care’ system but there’s no way to calculate those dollars.
We’re paying twice as much for premiums than we did ten years ago, but insurance policies are paying for less. What are we getting in exchange for the premiums and taxes we pay? Missourians health ranks 37th!
Per - http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2008/12/08/daily13.html
Missouri also has low public health funding at $42 per person and a high rate of preventable hospitalizations with 88.6 discharges per 1,000 Medicare enrollees, the report states.
In 2000, we had a budget surplus and the economic life of Social Security and Medicare had been extended. Politicians who publicly professed contempt for pork privately cut deals to continue wasteful projects, agencies and policies. Our tax dollars have to be spent wisely and invested in growth to get this country going again. We can’t afford the status quo.
I am not surprised at all.He’s not interested in what the voters have to say, like most politicians today. That’s just one of the reasons we need to dump Durbin.