Pelosi: House Does Not Have The Votes To Pass Senate Health Care Bill

We all knew it but now it's official.

"I don't see the votes for it at this time," Pelosi said. "The members have been very clear in our caucus about the fact that they didn't like it before it had the Nebraska provision and some of the other provisions that are unpalatable to them."

"In every meeting that we have had, there would be nothing to give me any thought that that bill could pass right now the way that it is," she said. "There isn't a market right now for proceeding with the full bill unless some big changes are made."

There's talk that what the Democrats will do next is pass the popular elements of the plan, things like removing bans on pre-existing conditions or eliminate the ability of insurance companies to drop people after they become ill.

The problem is a lot of those 'goodies' were predicated on the idea that insurance companies would be getting a lot of new customers from the individual mandate and people getting big subsidies to buy policies. Without those you simply kill what insurance actually means. I doubt there's actually the votes in the Senate for those ideas alone.

Obviously the best option would be to do market based reforms which include things like eliminating state barriers so you could buy policies from any company and tort reform.

Unlikely? Sure, though you never know.

But the big reworking of the system like individual mandates, tax increases, Medicare cuts and a huge expansion of Medicaid? Dead.

One more time!

posted by DrewM. at 12:06 PM

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