Blue Dogs Sell Out - Healthcare 'Fix' Only Scratches Surface

by Jim Brown: Blue Dog Democrats who agreed to a deal yesterday on the House healthcare bill may have achieved political cover by helping improve the legislation slightly, but they have not come close to fixing the major problems it creates. Four Blue Dog Democrats agreed to a deal yesterday with Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Henry Waxman that they say will cut $100 billion from the overall cost of the $1 trillion House healthcare bill. The legislation will now reportedly exempt small businesses with a payroll less than $500,000 from paying for any government-sponsored health coverage.

Lead Blue Dog negotiator, Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR), says the bill's government-funded public insurance option would be a choice for consumers instead of coverage forced on people without health insurance. Former Congressman Ernest Istook (R-OK), a distinguished fellow at The Heritage Foundation, says there is little difference between saying you will spend $900 billion instead of a full trillion.

"This still is an enormous expenditure of money which will not be of benefit to most Americans, and the details still are not in; but it accepts the premise, it seems, that government should get more involved in delivery of our healthcare. And that has risks to the healthcare of most Americans who are satisfied with their coverage today."

Istook says he's not sure he can trust the savings Blue Dogs and Henry Waxman say they will deliver since "government figures are notoriously way off." Also under the changes agreed to yesterday in the House, federal subsidies would be reduced to help lower-income families afford coverage, and the administration would steer away from using Medicare as the blueprint for a proposed government insurance option. . . . voting on the legislation in committee could begin as early as today. The earliest that floor votes could occur would be in September.

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