It’s up. And since, many other people have summarized it, I won’t.
But here are my thoughts, in no particular order:
- It’s a compromise between the House and Senate plans. Since I’d take the Senate plan at this point (and like the House better), that’s fine with me.
- There’s no public option – which, as I’ve argued before, doesn’t really matter since the public option left on the table is meaningless.
- I’m not sure if the exchange is national – this will need clarification.
- There’s a whole host of Republican anti-fraud stuff in there. Expect the White House to hammer that as “bipartisan”.
- The subsidies are larger, the costs to individuals are smaller.
- The individual mandate seems lessened, but there is more of an employer focus.
- It makes Medicaid more federally focused and removes the preferred state stuff (like Nebraska).
- It’s going to cost more. In the context of total health care spending, however, the amount is trifling.
Pass it. Then let’s get to work on making it better.
