How Budget Reconcilation May Affect Health Care Reform

I just saw this post from Alan Katz discussing how President Obama is trying to use budget
reconciliation to make it easier to enact health care reform.  This would basically mean that the Senate could pass legislation with fewer votes than would normally be required so that changes to the existing system would face less resistance. 

I'm not one to analyze the politics involved in this situation (I'll let Paul handle that) but there
are some takeaways for those of us in the health care business, or anyone interested in how this reform plays out.

What if reconciliation is passed for health care reform?

1. Major health insurance carriers are too large to be put out of business overnight. The changes can't be so sudden and dramatic that they would disrupt the business practices of major insurers.

Health insurance is an incredibly complicated and obtuse system.  Regulations vary from state to state,  each insurance company is different and now the federal government is throwing their hat in the ring.  This blog is an attempt to sort through the mess and provide simple, clean explanations of these issues.