Well, it sounds like this is it folks. Either we are about to witness federal healthcare reform move forward or we will not see anything happen......Or at least, that is what every policy wonk is saying from D.C. to California. Here's the latest and greatest on what people are anticipating will happen the next couple of weeks:
The House will pass the Senate bill that was passed on Christmas Eve 2009. The pickle here is that the House will essentially be supporting all the "junk" in the Senate bill that the President has announced he wants out and has outlined in his "correction's" bill.
After and IF the House pass the Senate bill, the Senate will then have to pass the President's "correction's" bill through reconciliation, which will strip out some of the "junk" that is currently in the bill (ex: Federal government paying for all of Nebraska's Medicaid program AKA the Cornhusker kickback).
Then, the "correction's" bill will have to pass the House......and then, it would be sent to President Obama to sign.
Whew......
As of today, there are not enough votes in the House (218 are needed) to pass the Senate bill. There was talk of a vote by St. Patrick's Day (not sure why our Government has been using holidays as timelines....), but it now seems people are hoping for a vote by March 26th before the Congressional recess. Regardless, it seems that time is ticking and if something does not occur soon, then the past year of debates, discussions, and movement will be another example of a failed attempt by the feds to reform healthcare.
