Jack & Jill Politics

From FIREDOGLAKE

Don’t Let Them Split the Public Option from the Mandates
By: wigwam Monday August 24, 2009 9:39 am

The tax-subsidized mandates give the insurers a pipeline into the Treasury, but they don’t want competition from a public option. If they succeed in splitting those, Harry Reid will drown the pubic option in his bath tub.

There are now trial baloons being floated about splitting off the public option from the rest of the healthcare package, which might attract bipartisan support, and passing it via reconciliation on a 51-vote partisan margin. Per the New York Times:

Senate Democrats said Sunday that they were fleshing out plans to pass health legislation, particularly the option of a new government-run insurance program, with a simple majority, instead of the 60 votes that would ordinarily be needed to overcome a filibuster.

After consulting experts in Senate rules and procedure, the Democrats said they were increasingly confident that they could legislate creation of a public plan in a way that would withstand challenges expected from Republicans.

IMHO, it’s a trick, and if the public option gets separated from the mandates, it will never see the light of day. And if you don’t think these guys are tricky, per the LA Times:

“They [the insurers] have beaten us six ways to Sunday,” said Gerald Shea of the AFL-CIO. “Any time we want to make a small change to provide cost relief, they find a way to make it more profitable.”

Don’t piss on my leg and call it rain.