By John Fund
No one knows exactly whats in it but it doesnt smell good.
The effort to ram a health care bill through Congress has turned the institution into a theater of the absurd. During the 2008 campaign neither Barack Obama nor leading Democrats talked about a so-called public option or government-run insurance plan. But this year it became the centerpiece of both the Senate and House bills. Now Senate leaders are dropping the public option and embracing a controversial expansion of Medicare for those 55 and older that wasnt even on the radar screens of most legislators until this week.
Im very puzzled ideas like this are being cooked up behind closed doors two weeks before Christmas and we dont know what they are said Sen. Lamar Alexander a Tennessee Republican.
Even Democrats were skeptical of the late addition of Medicare expansion to the debate. It is a major part of health reform that has clearly not gotten the airing of say the public option acknowledged Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon. Wondered Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland: What is the impact on the stability of Medicare? If we are going to expand it to three million people then how are we going to pay for it? One of the ideas of health reform was to ensure the stability and solvency and benefit package of Medicare.
Politico.com reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wont release details of the Medicare expansion even to his own members until he first gets a cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office. That way hell be able to add in whatever fiscal tricks and favors are needed to entice wavering Senators on-board to get the 60 votes hell need to bring the bill up for final vote.
Democratic leaders continue to insist they will get those 60 votes but their efforts convey a growing sense of desperation as they lurch from one approach to another with little thought given to how it might work in the real world. With the clock ticking towards the Christmas recess when Congress is set to go home I am beginning to wonder if Mr. Reid can really pass health care this year.
