Senate Democrats Exempt Home States from Baucus Health Bill

Senate Democrats, who think healthcare "reform" is so important that we shouldn't take time to read the legislation, are now scurrying to exempt their home states from its costly provisions. In a Wall Street Journal article last Thursday, Kimberly Stassel described the situation:

A central feature of the Baucus bill is the vast expansion of state Medicaid programs. This is necessary, we are told, to cover more of the nation's uninsured. The provision has angered governors, since the federal government will cover only part of the expansion and stick fiscally strapped states with an additional $37 billion in costs.

Majority Leader, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) has cut a deal to exempt Nevada from these costs for the next five years. Generous Mr. Reid saw to it that Oregon, Rhode Island and Michigan got the same exclusion, using a formula known only to the Nevada Senator, because "they are suffering more than most."

Sure.

It has nothing to do with Reid's tough battle to retain his seat in the upcoming election cycle. Can't imagine what he got from those other states. Prime real estate? Or maybe just cover.

Other senators have raised the minimum tax threshold for high dollar health insurance plans because the thresholds provided in the Baucus bill turned out not to be so "high dollar" after all, hitting middle income folks in many states. 17 mostly blue states have gotten some version of this change.

Still more Democrats have made additional changes that benefit their respective states or lifted provisions that would otherwise hurt their constituents. Stassel concludes:

So, health-care "reform" is good, smart and necessary, so long as it isn't fully applied to the states of the senators who are pushing it. The Democrats' growing problem is that somebody is ultimately going to have to pay, and Mr. Reid's bad example has given every one the same idea. If Colorado has a fair claim on being treated the same way Nevada has been, of course we're going to ask to have that kind of treatment, promised Sen. Mark Udall, upon news of the Reid deal.

The naked self-serving, gall of these utterly corrupt Democrats defies belief. It is ironic that perhaps their corruption might possibly work in our favor for a change. Since Democrats seem intent on saving their own rear ends by exempting some of their constituents from the more costly provisions of this bill. Perhaps in their panic they will carve out so many loopholes that the whole thing falls apart.

It is a sad testimonial to the depths this country has sunk that we should have to rely on the self-serving impulses of Democrat senators to save us from some aspects of the legislation they are trying to saddle us with. But since "principled" Democrats are virtually impossible to find these days, it may well be the most we can hope for.

Finally, it seems impossible to concieve that these Democrat senators are unaware of the demoralizing impact their wantonly corrupt behavior has on the people of this country. More likely they are aware of it and see it as an added benefit. A demoralized population is much easier to manage.

That is why it is critically important to remain engaged. These people must be removed from office or we will lose our country.