Amid the frantic efforts of liberal Democrats to wrestle the health care industry under bureaucratic government control, reports are surfacing that a bipartisan deal may be reached in the Senate:
In the Senate, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D., Mont.) pushed ahead with efforts to forge a bipartisan bill, and appeared close to sealing a deal that would expand health insurance coverage, but by creating a network of nonprofit cooperatives, not by establishing a new public health plan as favored by senior House Democrats.
“We’re going to have some type of public option, call it ‘co-op’, call it what you want,” Reid said...
The co-op plan, authored by Sen Kent Conrad, D-ND, is still being tinkered with, but, working with Sen Chuck Schumer, D-NY, and other Democrats, some changes have been agreed to — like a major infusion of federal dollars at the beginning and an initial governing board set up by the feds with federal involvement. One point of contention, however, has been how long government officials remain on the board. Conrad has contended that the board should eventually be run solely by participants. Schumer and others have sought a continued government presence, trying to create a quasi-public option.
[Said Schumer,] “We don’t care what it’s called."
Sen. DeMint exposed the cooperative initiative on Sunday in an appearance on ABC's 'This Week' for what it is: a Fannie Mae-style health insurance arbiter in each state.
