Word: careful
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That may be a risky bet, but Democrats know, as Bill Clinton so bitterly learned, that the biggest risk could be passing nothing at all. If they don't get health care now, the fallout could kneecap the Obama Administration for the next three years, and would likely be felt at the polls. Of course, that reality creates its own complications; if the party has little choice but to pass the bill by itself, progressives have even less patience for producing the kind of centrist bill that Baucus has been pushing. But Dems will probably stick with a centrist bill...
...White House aide. The practice of rescission (nixing policies for dubious reasons when sick people need them most) and annual and lifetime spending caps that insurers place on some policyholders would immediately be banned. For those who can't get insurance because of pre-existing conditions, a catastrophic-care fund would immediately be set up to provide coverage. And as part of an agreement with the pharmaceutical industry, seniors who fall into the so-called doughnut hole (after they spend their first $2,700) in the Medicare Prescription Drug Program would immediately start receiving 50% discounts...
...better for the country," says Eric Schultz, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which works to elect Democrats to the Senate. "But the bottom line is that Democrats were elected in 2006 and 2008 with a directive to change the direction of the country, and the health-care crisis was at the top of the list. We will not let political posturing get in the way of progress. It's this same posturing that is why we're in this mess today - and it's also why the Republican Party is in such bad shape today." (Watch TIME...
...only two Democrats were involved in the negotiations surrounding the Medicare Prescription Drug measure. Once a bill like that gets to the floor, members have a much harder time voting down legislation that could help thousands, if not millions, of constituents. For that reason, Democrats are hoping the health-care bill will be a work of compromise so that, when they do get enough votes to bring it to the floor, it will be hard for Republicans to vote against...
Those same voters are what kept Republicans Senators Mike Enzi and Chuck Grassley at the bargaining table long after all expectations had died that they would ever sign on to a deal: as much as they would be happy to kill health-care reform, Republicans want to make the case that they gave bipartisanship their all. In fact, both cited "partisan deadlines" as reasons that they couldn't vote for the bill...