Given the sad Pub performance on this, and the way Obamacare was passed in the first instance, this is a good reminder that for very important social safety net legislation, it is far better to try to craft something with substantial bipartisan consensus. Neither party has tried very hard to move in that direction. It is all about demonizing the other party. And a lot of folks are being hurt in the process.
A corollary to this, is that crafting legislation of this complexity that fits into the reconciliation loophole to avoid a filibuster, usually means bad legislation. The Dems when they passed Obamacare, knew it had technical problems, but to fix them, would not comport with the reconciliation rules, after their numbers dropped to 59 Senators.
One day perhaps, it will dawn on folks, that all must be insured, with premiums subsidized on a means tested basis, out of the general treasury, and not by forcing some to pay too much, to subsidize others. And the whole system needs to move to an HMO system to boot, to disincentive over treatment, and to do things, like say, handling some problems over the phone, rather than having to actually see a doctor (that is the way HMO's do it now, but outside of that system, the financial incentive is to force patients to drag their butts down to the doctors office, and then wait for often irritatingly long periods, to get seen). Sad!
And yes, yet again, force drug companies to charge the same for drugs to US consumers, as they do when their sell to rich foreign governments, with a single payer system (and thus have monopsony buying power). I am continually amazed why that fix is not discussed in the public square, other than by me. Very, very sad! Boo!
Anyway, if I were still a Pub, and a Senator, I would have voted no on all of this garbage from day one. What the Pubs have come up with is ludicrous.
