![\"colemohicans\"](\"http:\/\/www.dkms.com\/kmci\/alllifeisproblemsolving\/wp-content\/themes\/cutline-3-column-split-11\/images\/coleLandscapescenefromlastofthemohicans1827.jpeg\")
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The strategy I outlined in my last post may not work out. There may be no HCR bill resulting from it. In that case, progressives ought to introduce a back-up plan offered just yesterday by Scarecrow at Firedog Lake<\/a>, based in part on an analysis of Dean Baker’s<\/a>.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n Scarecrow’s proposal has the following steps. First, use reconciliation in the Senate to get by the filibuster and to expand eligibility for Medicare\/Medicaid, which would be paid for by increasing progressive taxes and ending Medicare Advantage subsidies. Second, move as many of the uninsured as politically feasible into these programs. Third, fully fund Medicaid and give Medicaid recipients the same basic coverage as Medicare recipients. Fourth, fill in the gaps and doughnut holes in Medicare. Fifth, \u201creform Medicare provider payment practices, including adequate funding for rural areas, better allocations to primary care etc, and reforms of provider payment incentives using a stronger MedPAC.\u201d Scarecrow points out that all of these can be part of reconciliation which requires only 50 votes, plus Joe Biden’s for passage.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n After the reconciliation bill is passed, Scarecrow proposes that progressives could then introduce a separate bill, which would require 60 votes to shut off a filibuster, to end the private insurance industry’s most unconscionable and unfair practices. My version of this bill would include five provisions. Make it illegal for insurance companies to: 1) deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions, 2) charge people with pre-existing conditions more than others are charged, 3) rescind anyone\u2019s policy because they failed to report a pre-existing condition, or because they got sick while insured, 4) raise anyone\u2019s premiums because they\u2019ve gotten sick while insured: and 5) price individual insurance rates at greater than 20% above an insurance company’s rates per person to its best group customers.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n