Omaha World-Herald to Sen. Ben Nelson: Vote "no" on Reid health bill

Below is just a portion of a great editorial written by the Omaha World-Herald. It has one person in mind, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE).

Sixty votes will be needed to send Sen. Harry Reid's health care proposal to the Senate floor for debate. Sen. Ben Nelson, one of the most closely watched swing votes, should vote no.

Why? Because Reid's proposal, like that approved in the U.S. House, would place immense burdens on small and medium-sized rural hospitals in the Midlands. It would not prevent further steep increases in health care costs.

It would, however, shunt billions in new costs onto state governments. And its budget savings at the federal level depend on empty, misleading promises of fiscal discipline that Congress has shown it’s utterly incapable of fulfilling.

If anyone doubts the threat to Nebraska, especially its rural areas, remember that it was Reid himself who tried to get a side deal to hold his own state of Nevada harmless from the increased Medicaid expenses that would raise costs steeply for state governments — and thus state taxpayers.

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