The substantive changes the Blue Dogs made to the bill are minimal. The original legislation let the public plan use Medicare payment rates for three years, after which point the secretary of health and human services would negotiate rates. Now the secretary negotiates rates from year one. States can set up co-op insurance plans, but in addition to, rather than in lieu of, the public plan. The small business exemption is raised from $250,000 to $500,000. There are some cuts elsewhere in the bill to bring down the cost, but I'm not hearing that they represent anything crucial.
Rather, the real concession was timing: The Blue Dogs didn't want to vote before the August recess if the Senate wasn't going to vote before the August recess. They won on that point. But that's really the substance of the deal: They won't have to take a hard vote before they know what the Senate will do. But the bill they'll have to vote on is pretty much the same as it was a week ago.
--Ballard Burgher
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