White House nears deal on health care

2018... isn't that about the end of Obama's 2nd term? Perhaps it would be less stupid if he were not given a 2nd term.

By Lori Montgomery and Michael D. Shear

Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 15, 2010

Gripped by a building sense that its window of opportunity could be closing, the White House on Thursday broke the last major logjam blocking enactment of far-reaching health-care legislation, cutting a deal with organized labor on how to tax high-cost insurance policies.

The agreement, forged in a marathon negotiating session that included White House officials and seven prominent labor leaders, would exempt union members from a proposed surtax on expensive insurance plans until 2018, five years after the legislation would take effect. The tax is a key source of financing for Democrats' plan to extend coverage to as many as 36 million additional Americans over the next decade.

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That fits right in with Nebraska's Medicaid exemption.

More thoughts about this.