Jumping To Conclusions

by digby

Here’s a sad story about the demise of the Medicare buy-in. Reid insisted that the negotiators keep quiet about the details until the CBO score came out but the doctors and hospitals panicked and sicced their lobbyists on the usual suspects, along with a few liberals. Turned out that all of their concerns had been anticipated in the compromise but nobody could say anything — and then Lieberman pulled the plug. Too bad.

Apparently, these good samaritans were afraid that they’d get a whole bunch of new previously uninsured patients who wouldn’t be paying top dollar. That would be opposed to currently uninsured patients who are paying nothing until they have their heart attack and wind up in the emergency room — which is apparently a better financial deal for the doctors and hospitals. That explains a lot.

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