The additions from Democrats on health care reform don't seem like much.  It's only 153 pages of legislative mumbo-jumbo, but there are some gems stuffed in there.

One of them is on page 20, where it says that if a senior falls into the prescription drug "donut" hole, they will get a "payment from the Medicare Prescription Drug Account of $250" to help make up for their extra costs.

On the next page is a reminder of how this bill has to be structured, because it is basically amending the new law that would be made if the House approves the Senate-passed health care bill.

"Repeal of Provision. - Section 3315 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (including the amendments made by such section) is repealed, and any provision of law amended or repealed by such sections is hereby restored or revived as if such section had not been enacted into law."

Up on Page 27 on Medicare Advantage Payments - "Effective as if included in the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, sections 3201 and 3203 of such Act (and the amendments made by such sections) are repealed.

You get the picture.

One thing that seems to have survived is the excise tax on indoor tanning services in the Senate bill, as I could not find any part of the Reconciliation bill that got rid of that provision.

As for special deals in this bill - as I always say - if there is a lot of highly technical text in a section, it is there for a reason.

It didn't take long for reporters to ferret out one special provision in the new health care reconciliation langauge from Democrats, and it didn't take long for the Senator who got in there to ask that the House strip it out.

This quickly got the name, the "Bismarck Bank Job" as Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) got a special section in this bill that allows state-owned banks to get in on student loans, avoiding reforms that would limit such loan writing.

Well, there is only one state that has a state-owned bank.  BZZZZZZT.  That would be North Dakota.

Conrad defended the provision when we found him just outside the Senate chamber around 2pm.  Not long after that, he realized that no one wanted to talk to him about anything else involving budget reconciliation.

So, he had his staff call the House and tell them to strip that provision out of the bill.

And how will they do that?  Oh, they will have the Rules Committee use a self-executing provision to get rid of it, in the same rule that indirectly approves the Senate health care bill.

I can't make this stuff up.

Oh yeah, there is a lot more in this bill.  We'll look at it in the days ahead.