Though as McJoan over at DailyKos notes, it's not clear that the provision was any good anyway:
It's seeming likelier and likelier that Medicare buy-in won't survive, with Snowe out and out saying no, and Lieberman and Bill Nelson, making serious noises against it. Not to mention the fact that it's looking like a fake Medicare buy-in anyway.
And remember what we learned earlier this afternoon, that
Senator Reid snuck the lifetime annual caps back in the bill, so if you get really sick, you lose your coverage, just like now. Why? Because the bill still permits insurance companies to raise your premiums through the roof (which was news to me). So, the Dems (and CBO) are afraid that if they take away the annual caps, then the insurance companies will just increase rates, a lot. Which begs the question of why the legislation still permits insurance companies to increase rates through the roof, like the 20% to 25% a year that mine currently increases?
