Tis the day before Christmas and the Senate Health Care Bill is Up For a Vote

Tis the day before Christmas and the Senate must vote, does Health Care pass or die because of one vote?

Finally the Senate will vote on their version of the Health Care Reform bill. It has major flaws in it and is a major give away to the insurance industry. Even with the cap of 20% of premium dollars for non medical costs, the insurance industry is already figuring out how they can convert some operational costs into medical costs and fake their MLR (medial loss ratio) to meet this requirement. They must take pre-existing condition patients, but they can charge more for them. They can now charge more for senior citizens also. They are still shielded from anti-trust action and from medical injury liability because of their denial of coverage. Nothing in this bill to control tort costs for malpractice insurance and nothing to cap what insurances can charge for their policies.

With all that said, should it pass, it will be a step to hopefully better legislation in the near future to truly create universal health care at an affordable cost and greater access. Americans deserve no less than that.

As a foot note, the health care bill demonstrates the dysfunctional senate rules and procedures that must be changed in order to have effective governance. But reality is that it will not change, because neither party wants to loose the filibuster to stop the others legislative agenda, even if it is supported by the PEOPLE!

Finally the Republicans gave in and agreed to the vote, but not until the day before Christmas, so everyone must wait. It is so Christian of them to keep everyone in town to vote and not be with family for the most holy of days. No! Lets stay till midnight Christmas Eve and sing Christmas carols waiting for the clock to tick by and then pass the bill with 60 sure votes. I guess they needed today (Wednesday) to go after a conservative Democrat to convince them to vote against the bill when it is finally voted on tomorrow at 10 AM EST. Maybe, just maybe they can convince Joe Lieberman or Max Baucus to change their vote. The loyal opposition, right!  Some may ask why Harry Reid capitulated to the Republican time table to vote? That is because the senate rules require unanimous consent to change the scheduled floor vote. I know, the party in control should have the power to control the time table. But that's our dysfunctional senate.

So Merry Christmas.