Nicholas Kristof proposes to use the equivalent of a cattle prod on Congress.
Let me offer a modest proposal: If Congress fails to pass comprehensive health reform this year, its members should surrender health insurance in proportion with the American population that is uninsured.
Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office has given a high grade to the health care reform bill proposed by Senate Finance Committee, according to a detailed report in today's New York Times.
Total cost over ten years: $829 billion. Total savings (deficit reduction) over ten years: $81 billion. "...Proportion of non-elderly Americans with insurance would rise over the 10 years to 94 percent, from 83 percent today." Ten years from now, 29 million people would still be without coverage, many of them illegal immigrants.
Democrats had worried that changes made by the committee, in seven days of deliberations, would add to the cost or reduce the number of people covered. The projected 10-year cost of the bill did increase, from $774 billion in Mr. Baucus’s original proposal. But the new costs were more than offset, and the budget office found that the latest version would reduce deficits by $32 billion more than the original plan.
The bill would require people to have insurance but reduced the penalties for those who violate the requirement. Senators of both parties had expected this change to reduce the number of people gaining insurance under the bill. But the budget office did not alter its estimate.
In a sign of the furious debate that lies ahead, hospital lobbyists said Wednesday that the coverage was not good enough to meet the terms of an agreement they had reached with Mr. Baucus and the White House. The industry said it had agreed to accept $155 billion in reduced Medicare payments over 10 years, provided that 97 percent of all legal residents were insured.
The bill now moving through the House would cover more people but would cost more.
Most Republicans seem angry/irritated by the results. The right is prepared to continue its endless "no" play. Some blue dogs and a couple of Republicans could persuaded to vote for the bill.
Max Baucus is jubilant.
