"The irony of this late-breaking Medicare proposal is that it could be a bigger step toward a single-payer system than the milquetoast public option plans rejected by Senate moderates as too disruptive of the private market."
- Washington Post editorial, December 10, 2009
While Democrats' latest back-room deal is being reported as a moderate compromise, the amendment to legislation being considered in the Senate (H.R. 3590) would in reality represent a government takeover of health care of a larger magnitude than even most Democrats have previously contemplated.