The debate over the use of budget reconciliation to pass relatively small changes to a health care reform is an unusual one. Republicans keep charging that it's unprecedented. Experts on Congressional procedure keep debunking them. Here's an NPR story quoting Georgetown's Sara Rosenbaum explaining that reconciliation has been used repeatedly for health care changes.

Republicans have been working very hard to portray any use of budget reconciliation to amend budgetary features of the health care bill as some unprecedented assault upon minority rights. Here, for instance, is Michael Gerson today:

When it comes to health care fraud, Medicare scams have recently elicited some of the greatest public outrage and political attention. But private-sector fraud and abuses may also be proliferating within the current system--perpetrated not only by providers, but also by insurance companies and corporate suppliers themselves.

More than any demographic group, American 50 and over are skeptical of health care reform. While those aged 18-49 are equally likely to believe that health care reform will improve or worsen their own medical care, according to a recent Gallup poll those 50-64 are more likely to believe it will worsen their care, 37% to 26%, with the margin even wider (39% to 20%) among those 65 and older.