Sen. Nelson on health care: “We should have waited”

Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., known of late for health care horse-trading, now says the President and Congress jumped the gun by deciding to tackle health care reform when they did.

In an interview with the Tribune newspaper of Fremont, Neb., Nelson says: "I think it was a mistake to take health care on as opposed to continuing to spend the time on the economy.”

Nelson went on cite the economy and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and say: “I would have preferred not to be dealing with health care in the midst of everything else, and I think working on the economy would have been a wiser move.”

Also, Nelson doesn't understand criticism of the so-called "Cornhusker kickback," that's the pejorative name people have used for a deal that extends Medicaid help from the federal government to Nebraska in perpetuity while most other states get such aid for three years under the bill. The deal helped convince Nelson to provide a crucial vote in the 60-vote majority Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., needed to make the legislation clear the senate.

The newspaper reports: "Nelson said the “Cornhusker Kickback” -- $100 million that was included in the Senate bill to help Nebraska cover Medicaid expenses -- was not intended to be a special perk for Nebraska, but rather a vehicle by which individual states could choose to opt out of federal funds for Medicaid in the future."