Kind of funny (or not): in order to get conservative Dem. Senator Nelson from Neb. to vote for the health bill, Reid and Co. cut a deal.
"The Nebraska compromise, which permanently exempts Nebraska from paying Medicaid costs that all other 49 states must pay, may violate the United States Constitution — as well as other provisions of federal law," Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said.
... [The Senate] bill was amended to shield Nebraska from the expected $45 million annual cost tied to expanding Medicaid programs.
Comparing some aspects of the House and Senate bills:
http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/93274
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aim3g2AJwUHI
Obama's (d)evolution on the public option:
Candidate Obama, 2008: The Obama plan will establish a new public insurance program available to Americans who neither qualify for Medicaid or SCHIP nor have access to insurance through their employers, as well as to small businesses that want to offer insurance to their employees. And again in another statement.... For those without health insurance I will establish a new public insurance program. (though he never once verbalized this in a speech)
President Obama, July 2009: I am pleased by the progress we’re making on health care reform and still believe, as I’ve said before, that one of the best ways to bring down costs, provide more choices, and assure quality is a public option that will force the insurance companies to compete and keep them honest.
President Obama, Aug-Dec 2009: [The public option was only a] sliver of my health care proposal.... I didn't campaign on the public option.
http://salon.com/news/politics/barack_obama/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2009/12/22/obama_public
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Statement-from-the-President-on-Health-Care-Reform/
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