If you are like me and don't like some of the backroom deals in ObamaCare...

Thank Republicans who refused to join fiscal conservatives to push through the most bang for your buck health care reform and decided to lie, stall, and do anything to get in the way. 

Watching 45,000 Americans die every year is unacceptable...this bill is a first step. Now, the first step after passing health care reform is to reform the health care system.

Senate Democrats defend backroom deals

The final vote on whether to pass the bill takes place on Thursday at 7pm, when Democrats will need all of their 58 and the two independent votes to reach the 60 required to pass the 100-seat Senate.

Although the bill’s passage is not yet guaranteed, all of the pieces are in place for Democrats to pass the bill after Mr Reid secured the support of the last wavering centrist, Ben Nelson of Nebraska.

“There are 100 senators here and I don’t know that there’s a senator that doesn’t have something in this bill that isn’t important to them,” Mr Reid told reporters amid mounting criticism of the sweetheart deals needed to win 60 votes. “That’s what legislating is all about; it’s the art of compromise.”

Mr Nelson wanted tougher restrictions on abortion funding in the bill, but after days of wrangling, agreed to support the bill in return for the federal government permanently funding Nebraska’s bill for Medicaid, the insurance plan for the poor, worth about $45m in its first 10 years.

Mary Landrieu of Louisiana also won about $300m in support for Medicaid for her state, and Vermont and Massachusetts will also receive additional funding.

Bernie Sanders, the independent from Vermont and the most liberal of senators, obtained $10bn for community health centres after failing to get a government-backed public health insurance scheme in the bill.

The White House, which is insisting the reform bill must pass in almost any form, also defended the horse-trading.

David Axelrod, a senior White House adviser, had earlier said that provisions benefiting specific states, such as Nebraska, were a natural part of the legislative process.

“Every senator uses whatever leverage they have to help their states,” Mr Axelrod told on Sunday. “That’s the way it has been. That’s the way it will always be.”

Tempers are fraying on Capitol Hill as the bill moves towards the Thursday night vote, with Republicans threatening to continue using stalling tactics.

But in a boost for Democrats, the American Medical Association, the US’s largest physician group, on Monday endorsed the Senate bill.

“All Americans deserve affordable, high-quality health coverage so they can get the medical care they need — and this bill advances many of our priority issues for achieving the vision of a health system that works for patients and physicians,” said Cecil Wilson, the AMA’s president-elect.

Posted via email from Jim Nichols