Immediate effects of health reform bills

The original NYT blog was posted Dec. 28. Since then, some of these so-called benefits are likely to be out of the bill (according to the usual suspects). One of the goners is the ban on lifetime limits. The annual limits are still banned, but the lifetime limits may have a new life of their own.
Similarly, the end of the doughnut hole isn’t all or none. There is a proposal for brand name drugs to be paid for at 50% of their retail price, excluding generics, which would cost consumers more (less than if the doughnut hole were to continue, but more than if generics were available as soon as they hit the market), even if the doughnut hole is nominally sealed.
There is nothing this administration and this Congress would not do to get this bill, any bill, passed. They never met a health insurer or drug manufacturer they wouldn’t subsidize. It appears that passing something is more important than passing something worthwhile.

I’ve switched my opinion again, not that it matters, but the more I learn about the sausage, the stinkier it gets.

I’ll admit that I am not well-versed on much of the detail within the house and senate proposals. But I do recognize that health care costs are spiraling out of control, and that too many people cannot afford coverage.

I am really concerned by some of the deals that have reported which were made to get the legislation through. Most recently, I read that the President had made a deal with unions, exempting them from the benefits “luxury tax” until 2018. Is there another side to this story that the conservative pundits are not telling?