House Democrats unveiled their 1,990 page health care reform bill in Washington yesterday, and the entire House may vote on it within the next 1o days.
The Dems are already playing some fiscal tricks in stating its costs, saying it will cost "only" $894 billion. That does not include provisions to increase Medicare payments to doctors. Those provisions, which would cost more than $200 billion over 10 years, were put into a separate bill, were introduced separately yesterday.
There were grumblings from some members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who are unhappy that though there is a public option in the bill, it is not a 'robust' one.
The Chair of the Caucus, Arizona's Raul Grijialva, said this yesterday:
"I am not rolling over. I will insist on a Medicare-plus-five amendment on the Floor so that the full Caucus can vote on it. We are hopeful that the Rules Committee will allow this amendment, which has tremendous public support, to be voted on for the record."
This article appears in Oct 29 – Nov 4, 2009.