Democrats are planning to scale back their reform package, but they could go the opposite direction. Now that they don’t have 60 votes, they don’t need Joe Lieberman. They can come up with a plan he doesn’t like — they can bring the public option back. They just need something that 51 senators like.
Harry Reid is terrified of filibusters. Why not let Republicans filibuster? A filibuster can’t last forever.
Health care reform can be divided into 2 categories — universal coverage and everything else. 46 million uninsured is the elephant in the room. If we ignore the elephant in the room, then we end up with a rather anemic bill. The only thing that Democrats and Republicans agree on is the little stuff. Tort reform is nice, but it is one of the little things.
I don’t buy into the argument that we need a gradual approach to universal coverage. If two people are arguing about where to build a house, they could compromise and build a house between the two islands. Sometimes the compromise solution isn’t very good.
I’m in a field where age discrimination is a problem. There is no guarantee that I’ll be able to remain employed between now and 65. There are lots of occupations, such as computer programmer and auto mechanic where age discrimination is a problem.