Ping-pong is the newest game being talked up on Capitol Hill now, to be used by the Senate to present a take-it-or-leave-it, no-conference-for-you version of “health care reform.” Essentially, the idea is that the Senate will pass a bill and send it to the House, which would be expected to pass the exact same bill, then send it to the President to sign, presumably on his Hawaii vacation.

How the Opt-Out might be removed

There’s been lots of political and economic discussion about exchanges and bending the cost curve, but not a lot of real-world answers to some pretty basic questions about health care reform. Maybe you know these answers? Or maybe you’ll have a chance to ask a Congresscritter the answers?

A few weeks back I did a diary called “Mis-directed Fury.” It focused on the reaction to the State opt-out idea on health care reform at FDL, and basically made the point that there are a lot more important things to get furious about than the State opt-out proposal. Today we have another explosion of angst and bile, this time at the report of Joe Lieberman’s intention to filibuster with the Republican opponents of health care reform legislation if the Senate bill contains Harry Reid’s highly constrained Public Option with a State opt-out. Meanwhile, everyone I’ve seen writing, or heard talking, about this ignores Reid’s continuing commitment to the 60-vote game, and his refusal, thus far, to start talking about using “reconciliation” or “the nuclear option” to get a really strong PO bill through the Senate with a majority vote.

Description of the dire future awaiting those of us in Red States who support and need the public option, if states are permitted to opt-out of the public option, and personal plea to all of you not to sacrifice us upon the plastic altar of bipartisanship.

According to the Census Bureau, “Opt-Out” would fall most heavily on Democratic districts in red states.

We should not abandon our progressive moral
values for the sake of political expedience.

Perhaps there are other contentious issues the federal government could allow states to opt-out of in order to deny basic human rights to their citizens? Any idea? Why, yes….

Democrats are reportedly considering permitting individual states to opt out of a public option if they want. This could be the big break supporters of the Kucinich amendment to HR 3200 need.

The credit card companies have come up with a new scam to rip off the cardholders.