Dec 202009
Now that Senator Ben Nelson has extracted his concessions, the Senate is poised to pass the health care bill before Christmas. The abortion compromise is still troubling in its contempt for women and the legality of the procedure, but it’s less odious than the House version. We’ll have to see whether states take steps to ban abortion from being offered on the exchanges, but it seems likely that pro-choice advocates are going to have to step up their vigilance and advocacy in the coming years. As for Nelson’s play to get more Medicaid funding for his state, my reaction can be summed up as “whatever”. Nebraska isn’t California or New York; the state probably has more cows than Medicaid enrollees.
The Senate bill still has plenty of shortcomings. In particular, the subsidies need to be more generous for working-class families. I’m hopeful that can be addressed in conference committee. Progressives have made plenty of painful concessions over the last few weeks, but that doesn’t mean we should walk away now when there’s still a chance to make good policy.
