Worse health option.

Somebody really wants it out there today that there's a "bipartisan" movement on healthcare. You'll see that mentioned all over the place.

But have you looked at what they're actually supposedly coalescing around? No public option. No requirement for employers to insure employees. No cap on what insurance companies can charge, so long as they charge everyone the same.

So, how does this increase the amount of people insured? It doesn't.

Later: Oh, My God. More detail and it just gets worse. On top of everything else, they're going to cut Medicare.

The business interests only Chamber of Commerce endorses. The giant drug lobby is spending tons to air commercials supporting it.

Healthcare has reached the critical mass. The big lobbies are no longer trying to block it. They're now trying to coopt it. They've apparently bought themselves a few Dem Senators and are going to try to turn healthcare into the Bush Prescription Drug plan that robbed America blind.

(PS. Notice the multiple part rollout today. This is very big and very coordinated, trying to create momentum for their plan.)

Fortunately, I don't think something like this would pass the House, but it gives you a really good idea of which Dem Senators can be bought. I mean, Medicare cuts and no real increase in the number of insured? That's their healthcare solution?

Later Still: The six Senators in the room? Dems: Baucus, Montana. Conrad, North Dakota. Bingaman, New Mexico. Repubs: Enzi, Wyoming. Grassley, Iowa, Snowe, Maine.

Not one big state among them. Not one big city. Really, no giant employer's home bases. No inner cities..... Four small western states, a farm state, and Maine, and they're the ones writing health policy for the rest of the nation?