Posted by
Billy on Thursday, December 10, 2009 5:34:50 PM
Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., said today that he's not ready to endorse the deal
struck late Tuesday on an alternative to the government-run public health
insurance option in the Senate health care bill.
"The only thing that our group agreed to last night was to send a proposal to
the Congressional Budget Office for financial analysis," Nelson said. "I haven't
signed onto the proposal, and I look forward to CBO's financial analysis of how
much it'll cost."
He said it remains to be seen whether any proposal can garner the required 60
votes.
"I have a number of concerns that remain unresolved," Nelson said.
A
leading liberal — former Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean — and a
much-courted moderate — Connecticut independent Sen. Joe Lieberman — both
signaled today that they might be able to live with the compromise, which
officials said included:
• Nonprofit national health plans administered
by the Office of Personnel Management, which runs the popular federal employees'
health plan.
• Opening Medicare to uninsured Americans beginning at age
55, effective in 2011
(I don't know if my concerns are the same ones Nelson holds but he is right to be concerned. Yes changes should be made in health care but just because the water is bad doesn't mean you get rid of the baby that is in the water. Read more on this issue Nelson not ready to endorse to health
care deal.)