Heathcare hobbled for now

The Video:

The Story via WaPo:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that the Senate will have to amend its version of a health-care reform bill before Democrats in her chamber would be willing to vote for it.

“I don’t think it’s possible to pass the Senate bill in the House,” Pelosi told reporters after a morning meeting with her caucus. “I don’t see the votes for it at this time.”

Pelosi (D-Calif.) has been struggling for days to sell the Senate legislation to reluctant Democrats in order to get a health-care bill to the president’s desk quickly. But House liberals strongly dislike the Senate version, while moderate Democrats in both the House and Senate have raised doubts about forging ahead with the ambitious legislation without bipartisan support.

The only way to keep the Senate bill alive, Pelosi said, would be for senators to initiate a package of fixes that would address House concerns about the bill. In particular, Pelosi described her members as vehemently opposed to a provision that benefits only Nebraska’s Medicaid system. Also problematic are the level of federal subsidies the Senate would offer to uninsured individuals and its new excise tax on high-value policies, which could hit union households.

“There are certain things the members simply cannot support,” Pelosi said.

Aides said later that the House would not act on the Senate bill until the fixes are made, shifting responsibility for completing the bill across the Capitol. But the Senate has not agreed to move forward with such changes.

Congressional leaders also are considering starting from scratch on a new bill, an undertaking that many Democrats fear could consume months of effort as they brace for a tough 2010 election battle.

There are some on the right who are saying that Obamacare is dead. My message to them, you do not know Democrats that well, at all. They will get something. But not the radical plan that they wanted to pass. So, for now, the idea of Nationalized Healthcare is most likely dead. But they will pass something. Most likely they will go back to square one and start over again. Which I feel is a very good thing. But it is not over, until they finally table the bills and say forget it.

Bottom Line: The radical Obamacare plan is basically dead, but the Democrats will do something, what it is, is anyone’s guess at this point. The radical stuff is gone, which will cost the Democrats in the 2010 and 2012 elections. The far left is rife with anger, but it does score a minor victory for free enterprise and for personal choice.