A First Look at the Manager’s Amendment

Bob Moffit and Nina Owcharenko / December 19, 2009

The Senate Leadership is scheduling the first vote on their health care bill later today. A thorough critique and analysis of the 383 page manager’s amendment cannot possibly be done in the short time frame given by the Democratic leadership in the Senate. The race to push through the towering 2,000 page bill leaves little time for Senators, their staff, or voters to understand the breathtaking impact this legislation — that effects one-sixth of the U.S. economy — will have on the lives of every citizen.

In our brief review of the manager’s amendment, it is clear this amendment does nothing to alter the general policy direction of the underlying Senate bill, which accelerates the concentration of power that Washington will exercise over the financing and delivery of health care for over 300 million Americans. The underlying bill still includes individual and employer mandates, a massive and costly Medicaid expansion, highly prescriptive control over health care benefits and services, the reduction in access to Medicare services, and dozens of new taxes impacting Americans at all income levels.

Here are a few highlights from the manager’s amendment: (more…)