Preexisting condition

washingtonpost.com By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, September 23, 2009

The Senate Finance Committee was barely an hour into its consideration of health-care reform on Tuesday morning, but Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) already knew where he stood.

"I do not support a government takeover of the health-care system," he railed. The proposal "confiscates more money from the taxpayers," he went on. "It tramples on American freedom and liberties."

After this vigorous display of open-mindedness, Bunning was spent. About an hour later, spectators noticed that the senator, who had been resting his chin in his hand, had fallen fast asleep. As giggles rippled through the chamber, an aide shook Bunning, who woke with a start.

Bunning's nap was a fitting comment on how he and his Republican colleagues had received the efforts of the committee's chairman, Max Baucus (D-Mont.), to craft a bipartisan compromise on the mammoth legislation. Baucus made major concessions to Republicans: He dropped the "public option" for a government-run health plan; he tossed aside the mandate that employers provide health coverage; he cut the bill's cost and made sure it was all funded by revenue from within the health-care system; he stipulated that government funds would not go for abortion or to illegal immigrants; and he included efforts to curtail medical malpractice awards.