THE RETREAT BEFORE THE ROUT:

Key Democratic provisions fading fast (CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN, 7/27/09, Politico)

Bipartisan negotiations on the Senate Finance Committee are moving closer to eliminating two health care provisions favored by many Democrats – a mandate on employers to provide insurance or pay a penalty, and a government insurance option, a senator and health care insiders said Monday.

That could bring even greater pressure on Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who has been challenged by more liberal senators who say he is sacrificing key Democratic priorities on health care reform to win the votes of a few Republicans. [...]

“We are working towards a way to get a bill that lowers health care costs, which provides affordable, high-quality health care to people and in a way that passes the Senate,” Baucus said. “I can’t tell you exactly what that is yet, but I can tell you we are getting very close to it.”

Democrats on the Finance Committee meet Tuesday morning, but already talk of a deal along these lines drew fire from one prominent Democrat – former national party chairman Howard Dean. If the co-op plan and free rider provision make it into the bipartisan compromise, "I fear for the future of health care reform because that is not health care reform," Dean said Monday on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show.

Instead, he called it “health insurance reform."

And once CBO scores it they can't argue that it'll lower costs.

MORE:
Lobbyists gain upper hand in Obama battle (Bob Cusack, 07/27/09, The Hill)

Lobbying interests that President Obama campaigned against last year have gained the upper hand on the White House in recent weeks.

In stark contrast to Obama’s first few months in office, special interest groups this summer have aggressively opposed the president’s top domestic priorities. And they have succeeded in slowing legislation to revamp the nation’s healthcare system, won an essential change to climate change legislation and put off efforts to set up a consumer agency in the financial sector. [...]

An influential lobbyist who requested anonymity said Obama has “lost serious momentum and has really not played the expectations game well, especially with hard deadlines.”

A key facet of industry opposition is “creating delays” and, if negotiations break down, seizing the “opportunity to outright kill a proposal,” the lobbyist added.

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 28, 2009 7:11 AM