And while many of us aren't paying much attention our congress critters are up to their old tricks.

Which would be a compromise on the public option summarized by the editorial board of the NY Times. It would neutralize boomer angst by allowing folks over 55 to buy into Medicare which would also probably improve Medicare's financial position by bringing in younger and cheaper geezers.

Which would also leave providers and the rest of us stuck with the same system of fee for service medicine which rewards weasels who provide unnecessary care while draconian and often illogical price controls punish providers who do the right thing.

At the same time the proposal promises to help set up non profit insurance providers at some future date if someone finds that the glorious insurance exchanges are dominated by expensive, for profit insurers. This is sort of the Max Baucus insurance cooperative approach except that it has the added advantage - for health insurers - that it doesn't start immediately.

Meanwhile someone has found an interesting provision in the Senate bill:

Tucked in a clause of the Senate bill captioned "No lifetime or annual limits" is a provision that would permit such caps.

As currently written, the Democratic bill would allow insurance companies to place annual limits on the dollar value of medical care, as long as the limits are not "unreasonable." The legislation does not define what level of limits would be allowable, delegating that task to administration officials.

Proponents said such limits are necessary to prevent premiums from going up overall.