Leaks about what will be in the new version of the health care bill

This bill will clearly be more costly than the Senate bill and more of the burden for paying for it will be borne by Medicare payroll taxes and additional Medicare cuts. Obama and Democrats keep promising that there won't be cuts in health care. But why is anyone taking this seriously when the Democrat plan is taking a big cut out of Medicare payments that already compensate hospitals and doctors for less than their costs? This should just be viewed as a tax on medical care providers (hint: further raising the costs for privately insured patients). Note also that the back door huge $60 billion payoff to unions is still in the bill. Why should union workers be subsidized relative to their competitors in non-unionized firms?

The changes to the Senate bill under consideration total about $200 billion and would increase affordability subsidies, change the Cadillac tax on high-end insurance plans to reflect a deal cut with labor unions and further fill the gap in seniors' drug coverage. The changes would be paid for primarily by increasing Medicare payroll taxes and additional Medicare cuts, Democratic insiders said. . . .

Here is the ultimate irony. Democrats are having the televised summit on February 25th to show how transparent they are, but at the same time they are putting together what will be the actual bill in secret. The summit is for show, but the bill being put together in secret is what counts.