Tom Murphy
Newswire21.org

Fittingly, a snow storm settled in over the Capitol as Republican senators tried to stop Democrats from passing a historic health insurance reform measure.

While Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid struggled the pull together the 60 votes needed to pass the measure before President Obama's Christmas deadline, GOP leader Mitch McConnell joined Sen. John McCain vowed to do all they could do to block it.

The Republicans planned to read the 2,000-page bill and its amendments in the Senate chamber as a means of blocking discussion of remaining obstacles to its passage.

"I don't think it would be outrageous to ask for a bill that we haven't seen to be read," said McCain as a snowstorm developed over Washington.

The bill would require tens of millions of uninsured Americans to carry health insurance, even if they have to buy it themselves.  In theory, it would reduce the overall costs of health care by greatly reducing the emergency room costs of treating the uninsured, cutting the costs of medications, including pre-existing conditions in coverage and, possibly, closing the so-called "doughnut hole" that requires senior citizens to pay thousands of dollars a year for drugs under Medicare.

The bill would be a boon to the insurance and pharmaceutical industries because both industries would gain millions of new customers. But it would stop far short of the sweeping reform that polls indicate Americans want.  There would be no central government plan to manage costs and premiums would likely rise without competition from such a plan.

Deep Compromises
AARP and the nation's two largest unions, the Service Employees International Union and the AFL-CIO, have expressed disappointment with the compromises that have been made in the legislation, which is one of President Obama's chief objectives for his first year in office. Even former Democratic party chairman Howard Dean - a liberal  and doctor, by trade - has said he would vote against the current bill.

Proposals to allow Medicare for boomers over 55 have been scuttled. And conservative senators like Democrat Ben Nelson of Nebraska are insisting that insurance companies be barred from paying for abortions, putting the federal government squarely between a woman on her doctor on one of the most difficult and personal medical decisions.

Nelson said he's "making progress" on trying to resolve his differences with his party's leadership, but his delays have only given Republicans more room to maneuver. For his part, Reid said he will keep the Senate working on the legislation around the clock.

"I think the majority leader believes that, somehow, if we stay in on weekends, Republicans are going to blink," McConnell told reporters. "I can assure him we're not."