Things have slowed down slightly in regards to the ongoing senate health care debate as differences are still shared over amendments. In particular, there is still controversy surrounding the amendment from Sen. John McCain addressing Medicare spending reductions, as well increased preventive care for women.

The biggest debate currently is over the Medicare amendment. The Medicare amendment would greatly influence the success of the current $848 billion health care bill. Essentially, it would remove/block $500 billion in Medicare reductions that would aid in funding the health care reform. The argument is that such cuts would be detrimental to current beneficiaries.

Although things have been moderately sluggish, the Senate has made headway and currently plans to begin voting towards at the end of the first week of December. It will be interesting to see how things progress in the next few weeks, and whether or not these issues will be resolved before the end of the year.