Would somebody please, please, please tell Andrea Mitchell to stop citing the CBO estimate of the Kennedy-Dodd plan, like she is on MSNBC right now?
Again, the committee submitted a partial bill. Key elements were missing, most important among them a requirement that employers contribute money towards the cost of their workers' coverage.
Some of the missing pieces will cause reform to cost more. Some will cause reform to cost less. Together, though, they will cause reform to reach many more people.
In other words, the fact that CBO concluded the partial Kennedy-Dodd bill would cost $1 trillion and leave 36 million uninsured is almost totally meaningless.
Sigh.
--Jonathan Cohn