WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democrats on Monday examined expanding the Medicare health program for the elderly to people as young as 55 as they sought a compromise on a government-run insurance plan in the healthcare reform bill.
With the clock ticking toward a self-imposed year-end deadline for passage, the Senate also debated Democratic Senator Ben Nelson's divisive amendment to tighten the bill's restrictions on the use of federal funds for abortions.
The abortion issue and the government-run insurance plan are the two biggest hurdles remaining for the Senate's version of the healthcare overhaul, President Barack Obama's top domestic priority.
McConnell pretty much nailed it:
"If your goal was to come up with a plan for financial ruin, you couldn't come up with a better idea than cutting a program by $500 billion and simultaneously expanding the number of people it is required to cover," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.
It makes sense in a way, the Democrats best strategy has been to create a program and then incrementally expand it far beyond the original scope as means to accomplish their goals over all the long.
By the way Reid is a Jackass:
They should have floated this idea months ago. We can't afford it, but somehow it doesn't sound quite as radical as their other ideas. Good point from McConell.
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