Controversial stuff dropped from health care bill

Congress is listening to at least some of its constituents’ concerns. Senate Bill Will Not Address End-of-Life Care:

The Senate Finance Committee’s health care plan will not include provisions dealing with end-of-life care, now one of the more controversial topics in the health care debate, the committee’s top Republican said on Wednesday.

Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa said in a statement that the committee “dropped end-of-life provisions from consideration entirely because of the way they could be misinterpreted and implemented incorrectly.”

A Senate Finance Committee aide confirmed that the panel was not discussing end-of-life measures, adding that they were “never a major focus” of the committee’s negotiations.

House committees have passed legislation that would provide Medicare coverage for optional counseling sessions on end-of-life services.

In his statement, Mr. Grassley called the House legislation “so poorly cobbled together that it will have all kinds of unintended consequences.”

And now I just read that another controversial measure, the public option, by which the government would set up its own insurance program to compete with private companies is also being dropped.

Feel better now? Will these changes let you support the bill?