Bloomberg reports that “Democrats will likely drop the idea of setting up a new government-run insurance program as they try to quickly resolve differences between House and Senate health-care bills, party members in both chambers said.”
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat said, “The Senate has pushed this to the limit of 60 votes. We have to be careful that whatever we change doesn’t jeopardize that 60-vote margin.”
“We’ll never have another chance like this in my political lifetime,” Durbin said. “This is it.”
Healthcare reform is too important to tie it to Senator Durbin’s political lifetime. The American public is not concerned about Senator Durbin’s political lifetime.
The goal, according to Bloomberg, is to have a bills signed by the State of the Union.
Shouldn’t the goal be to pass healthcare reform legislation that advances the public health in smart and progressive ways? Why the artificial deadline?
Should we accept legislation that compromises the public health?
