“Senate Democrats Satisfied with Deal,” the Washington Post reports this morning. If your sole objective is to get to 60 votes, you might be satisfied. But if you’re a citizen concerned about your health or your tax bill, you aren’t going to be so satisfied.

Medicare, already in dire financial straits, will be vastly expanded, allowing people to join at the age of 55. Organizations representing hospitals and doctors have said that the plan will jeopardize health insurance for millions because it simply won’t work financially. But the Democrats go blithely along, ignoring reality:

But even Democrats who were not thrilled with the buy-in program applauded the deal’s central component: replacing the public option with two national private insurance policies under the oversight of the Office of Personnel Management, the agency that administers health benefits for federal employees.

 

Senator Max Baucus gives the game away:

“If there’s 60 senators who can reach agreement, I’m for it,” said Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), a chief sponsor of the bill, who represents the kind of rural state that industry groups said would be harmed by a Medicare buy-in. “Sometimes you’ve got to do a little bit on the liberal end and a little bit on the moderate end to reach agreement. And that’s what’s going on.”

 

Yeah, get 60 votes, make history (making history is very popular on the Hill right now, and I guess the current crop of legislators want to make some history before the angry voters retire them). Don’t worry if your district will be harmed.