After playing 'possum for weeks thereby delaying the legislative process, six members of the Senate Finance Committee led by Senator Max Baucus finally lived up to expectations and produced a so-called bipartisan compromise that is a sell-out of Americans who want a real solution to the health care crisis in this country. The emerging agreement lacks two critical elements for holding down costs and providing universal coverage: it omits the mandate that employers provide workers with health insurance, and lacks the competition of a low cost government insurance option according to AP sources. Without a mandate for employers to provide insurance, workers may be forced to switch to a subsidized government plan, thereby increasing the program's cost to taxpayers.Likewise the Democratic conservative caucus in the House, referred to as 'Blue Dogs', want similar changes to pending House proposals. These demands would effectively gut any legislation intended to slow down the health cost spiral. As economist Paul Krugman points out any reform worth its name rests on four main principles: regulation, competition, mandates and subsidies. But Blue Dog demands do conform with the wishes of the drug and health insurance lobby which has showered them with contributions. At the same time they oppose a public plan because of its cost, these posers of fiscal responsibility want increases in Medicare reimbursement rates, thereby adding to the cost of Medicare. The conservative legislators should not be called 'Blue Dogs' but 'Yellow Dogs' or perhaps even the more descriptive 'Running Dogs'--an archaic vestige of the once Democratic "solid South" that has become more unreliable than loyal. The caucus was founded by a conservative House member from Louisiana, Billy Tauzin, who switched to the Repugnants soon after the group was formed. He then pushed through the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act full of huge giveaways to drug and insurance companies. Is Mr. Tauzin still a low paid Blue Dog ostensibly representing his district faithfully? Foolish question. He is now the obscenely paid president of PhRMA, the pharmaceutical lobby. Watch the President discuss health care reform in a live town hall webcast hosted by AARP at 1:30pm Eastern time today. http://aarp.org/TownHall