Ben Nelson Makes 60 for Healthcare

It looks like they made the bill better by limiting insurance company profits. Wow. We might get healthcare passed for Christmas after all. There is one BUT.

A holdout no more, Democratic Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson agreed Saturday to provide the 60th vote necessary to clear the way for Senate passage of sweeping health care legislation, capping a year of struggle and a final burst of deadline bargaining.

Nelson had a brief response - "Yeah" - when asked whether he would support the measure as he strode into a private caucus of fellow Democrats.

With that vote, President Barack Obama's Senate allies appear on track to pass the legislation by Christmas, overcoming Republican opposition and a swirling early winter snowstorm.
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The legislation includes new limits designed to limit insurance company profits and overhead, by requiring them to spend 80 percent of their premium income on medical care for individual insurance policies, and 85 percent for group policies.

On abortion, the measure would let states disallow coverage in new insurance exchanges.

The developments occurred as Republicans dug in to delay the inevitable for as long as possible. They objected when Reid sought permission for Nelson to announce his decision in a speech on the Senate floor, then forced Senate clerks to read aloud the text of the 383-page package of changes in the legislation, a process expected to consume hours NPR

Read the so-called managers amendment healthcare legislation here. See the CBO score here. Olympia Snowe won't vote for the bill.

Paul Krugman offers his blessings:

So, it seems that Harry Reid has done it. What I’m hearing is that the plan for the next few days calls for more or less nonstop action, with a series of cloture votes at crazy times, so as to get the health care bill through the Senate by Christmas Day.

It’s not the bill progressives hoped for. But it’s the bill that can pass, now.

And here’s what happens if a bill isn’t passed now: Democrats lose seats — maybe a lot of seats — in the 2010 midterms. A weakened President Obama wins reelection, maybe - but even that isn’t certain. No way he has the votes for another try at health care before 2015. Quite possibly, there isn’t another chance until 2021.

Some people say that we should throw it away and start over; is this what they have in mind? Because that’s the reality of what would happen.

Ben Nelson: "The quality of this debate has not always measured up to the quality of the American people."

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This is all happening amid the snowpocalypse: