Will there be a secret plan to use reconciliation to expand Medicare to everyone?

[andym]

Well without our support it won't happen. I wrote my Congress people (Eshoo, Boxer, Feinstein) today asking them just that.

Why secret?, because if Lieberman and friends get word of it, they won't cooperate and we need them to pass the crap bill in order to get some of the subsidies we will need for Medicare (on the Exchange) later. I hope Wyden can get his amendment through to open the exchanges to everyone. That would be very important later.

Reconciliation requires that a bill be deficit neutral or effect savings (but new regulations etc can't be created).

Then our congress people can call for reconciliation to save money (perhaps save Medicare itself) on Medicare by opening it to everyone. Probably need to have Medicare create a family plan as well. We can call this part "Medicare reform."

We only need 51 votes in the Senate and we would be on the road to single-payer.

This idea is based on these two posts:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x58864

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x57970

[cliffordu]

1. I'd bet not.

They don't have the guts.

[andym]

3. You're probably right, but there's no harm in trying.

If you like the idea, please write your Congress person (unless they are a moderate or conservative Dem or a Republican).

[Ken Burch]

2. Well, it would be great...but if it's secret, how exactly would we GIVE our support?

Wouldn't this be something we're not supposed to even know about?

[andym]

4. We should push for it

with those Congress people we expect to be sympathetic. Of course, we won't know if we will succeed until all the smoke clears. We should explicitly mention that only those congress people who would definitely support this be included in discussion. Not sure though that the necessary secrecy can be maintained.

[regnaD kciN]

5. There won't be one right away...

...because no one wants to go through this all again.

I think we need a longer-term view. For the next four years, not much will happen on the HCR front, because the lion's share of the plan won't come into effect until 2013. It will be then, when people are actually confronted with the mandates, the subsidies that probably won't be enough, the "non-profit" OPM system that no insurance company will bid on, and realize that, if something isn't done, they're going to take a mighty hit in the pocketbook right away, and into the future.

If progressives (and that includes progressive Democratic officeholders) are smart, they'll react to this with shock (feigned as it needs to be) that, although the 2009 HCR bill was a "valiant effort" to achieve affordable universal care, those ol' debbil insurance companies have traitorously subverted the intent of the law (try to keep a straight face when saying this) to serve their own greed rather than the needs of the American people. Therefore, since the 2009 law proved to be insufficient to stave off Big Insurance's wiles, additional "corrections" will have to be made...such as Medicare-for-all, a robust public option, or even single-payer. Since these will all be funding issues, they'll be ripe for reconciliation -- which the 2009 bill wasn't (you could get a public option through reconciliation, for example, but not much else of the current bill, including the exchange or insurance regulations).

If progressives are smart (and have determined there's no way to kill the current bill, which seems to be the case right now), it would be a good idea to not vituperate everyone over what we got out of this process, but, instead, to start planning for when the flaws in the bill become unavoidable, and be ready to move quickly with solutions when that happens. Remember, the most egregious parts of the bill won't take effect for a number of years. We have time.

[ZombieHorde]

6. I hope so. nt