No that isn't a typo. This was a vote to allow for the Senate to start debating on an issue that has been debated since April. I know. It seems like they're just trying to piss us off and make this go on for as long as possible, all while millions of Americans continue to live without health insurance.
So where does this all leave us? Well, the Senate will likely debate Harry Reid's version of the bill that includes an opt-out public option, allowing for states to opt-out of inclusion in a public option. However, while Reid was able to get 60 votes for cloture, he likely only has 56 to pass this current bill, with Senators Nelson, Lieberman, Landrieu, and Lincoln currently withholding support for Reid's watered down public option.
If and when this bill finally passes the Senate, which could take the entire month of December at this pace, that bill must then be merged with the much more liberal House bill. What will happen there is truly anybody's guess. In all likelihood, Speaker Pelosi, Senator Reid, and the Obama Administration will be working together on a compromise bill that will likely feature many of the subsidies of the House bill, while incorporating the Senate's version of the public option. That's simply my best guess and honestly the best case scenario in my opinion. The House subsidies are what makes that bill cut costs better than anything that will leave the Senate, while the Senate's public option keeps the price tag down below $1 Trillion.
As I stated in my first ever post on this blog, health care reform will get done. While I am more cynical on the actual effectiveness of any bill that will pass out of Congress, incremental positive change is better than no change at all. Health care is a right, not a privilege, and it is high time that this nation's leaders act accordingly.
