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Keller @ Large: Is Graham-Cassidy Bill Better Than Obamacare?

BOSTON (CBS) - I've covered politics long enough to know there's often a gap between what the news media obsesses about when an important bill is in the spotlight - who's for it, who's against it, which side has the upper hand, and so on - and what the average citizen really cares about - how is this going to affect me and mine?

That's human nature, and it's really the question both the politicians and the press should be focused on as well.

Graham Cassidy Bill
Senator Lindsey Graham (R), stands with Senator Bill Cassidy (L), Senator Dean Heller (2nd L), and Senator Ron Johnson (2nd R) as well as former Senator Rick Santorum (C) to announce their legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare on September 13, 2017. (Photo credit JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

So as the confusing, bitterly-contested Graham-Cassidy health care reform bill lurches toward a possible vote next week in the Senate, I spoke with a well-respected expert on health care reform, Jon Kingsdale, then-Governor Romney's choice to be the first director of the Massachusetts Health Connector the cornerstone of the landmark health reform here.

I asked him - you spent all day building an elaborate sandcastle on the beach and somebody comes along and kicks it over, is that what this is?

"Absolutely. It feels like retribution almost," Kingsdale said. "We either find a way to do pretty much what we're doing now in terms of covering most people with fairly good benefits for a lot less money, which means taking it right out of the pockets of hospitals and doctors and health plans - so you can imagine the food fight - or finding one of the many ways to sort of squeeze people, to squeeze consumers."

It makes you wonder - whatever the flaws of Obamacare, and there are many, is this really better for you and yours?

Talk back to me via email at keller@wbztv.com, or use Twitter, @kelleratlarge.

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