Griper Blade: Giving Up a Legislative Snipe Hunt

For healthcare reform, yesterday turned out to be a game-changer. Senate majority leader Harry Reid either found or borrowed a backbone, made a decision, and moved forward with a reform bill that includes the public option. Of course, as public options go this actually isn't one. It's a public health insurance plan, sure, but you can't actually choose it unless you're uninsured -- so the "option" part is a bit of false advertising. So much for competition. If you're willing to go glass-half-full, then take the news this way; that which exists can be improved -- you can't come back later and fix a "public option" that doesn't actually exist -- and this isn't the bill. The Senate bill will still need to be combined with a House bill. This whole thing's still a work in progress.

As compromises go, this wouldn't be the worst. Opt-out is definitely better than opt-in. Had this been the other way around -- assuming it'd be a legislative process -- then each state would need to pass a law the governor would either sign or veto in order to get in. Winning two chambers and a veto override in many states would impossible chore, leaving too many states out of the system. The way the Senate bill has it, all those roadblocks stand in the way of states opting out. Only the states with the most lunatic political atmosphere -- i.e., Alaska, South Carolina, Alabama, etc. -- would be able to pull that off.

And let's not even talk about the idiocy that is the "trigger." For her part, Republican Senator Olympia Snowe is "disappointed" with Reid's bill and stands by the idea of the trigger... [CLICK TO READ FULL POST]