Now what?

With both the House and the Senate having passed substantially different versions of health care legislation, I'm intrigued to see how the conference committee is going to find some sort of viable solution. Both sides are saying, "here's this provision of our bill that can't change" and they seem completely at odds with each other.

In the House, both Dems and Republicans are saying that the tobacco tax increase can't go above 45 cents. Dems already lost 10 votes because of the tax in the first round, who knows how many more they'd lose if they increased the tax to the Senate level of 61 cents.

Meanwhile, Republican senators do not seem willing to even consider cuts to Medicare Advantage (complete bullshit if you ask me...). But the Senate already has the smaller expansion -- if you were to just collect funds from a 45 cent tax increase, it wouldn't even be enough to fund the $35 billion expansion. So basically senators have to find a completely different, non-controversial source of funding. I hope they're creative, because I'm not sure that exists.

My prediction: $35 billion expansion, with some of the House's Medicare provisions (definitely the reversal of scheduled physicians cuts, to be funded perhaps by the cuts to nursing and inpatient rehabilitation centers?), without the MA cuts. All to be funded with a 45-cent tax increase and "unidentified non-controversial tax" (I've heard that perhaps they could better collect back taxes, and that would get lawmakers the needed money).

What makes it even more tricky is the impending presidential veto. I wish Bush would get off his ideological high horse already. Leavitt is quoted in the NY Times as saying

Congress was jeopardizing health care for millions of needy children by passing bills that “the president will have no choice but to veto.”

Seriously, what an ass. So not only does the conference committee have to come up with something that most of the lawmakers can agree on, it also has to be veto-proof. That, or millions of children go without health insurance. No pressure Congress. No pressure at all.