So we no longer have sixty votes in the Senate for health care reform. Senators and Congress people from the left and the right have said tonight that health care isn't going to pass. So where do we go now?
Passing the Senate bill with no changes? Liberals in the House say that wont happen, and some Blue Dogs are backing them up.
Reconciliation? Where are the 50 votes? Even before this loss, Harkin said there weren't fifty votes for this. And reconciliation wont give us the exchanges or the regulations or the end to rescission or and end to denying care base don pre-existing conditions. Because even if you could push the subsidies and a Medicare expansion through, the centrists will never give you sixty votes for the rest of the deal after having been so publicly screwed.
My wife has a serious heart condition. My son has autism. I work in an industry where I could be laid off tomorrow. No insurance will take my son or my wife because of their conditions, even if I could afford it on the personal market. With treatment, my son is a bright, engaging honor student who obses over making sure animals are healthy and volunteered his allowance -- unasked -- to help the kids in Haiti. Without treatment, he is overwhelmed by the world and unable to reach out to the people who love him. Now, because there is no bill, losing my job means dumping him into that hell.
With treatment and monitoring, my wife can run marathons. Without it, my wife could die.
Congratulations, bill killers, the bill is dead. You and Grover Norquist can have a good laugh over it. But tell me: how are you going to help my son and my wife and the millions of others out there like them now?