Congratulations to President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Majority Leader Reid for their signal achievement in passing health care reform. Leader Reid needed to get 60 votes out of a possible 60 in the Senate, and got 'em all. Speaker Pelosi's doggedness and grit saved the day in the House.
Kudos also to Catholic sisters and organized labor! (Seriously. The sisters bucked the bishops on this one, and provided significant cover for Catholic House members. The AFL-CIO and SEIU went out on a limb for a bill which isn't entirely to their liking, but which--patriotism still lives!--they believe is good for the country overall.)
Not many people are absolutely enthusiastic about this health care reform. Some wanted it not at all, while others, such as myself, wanted Medicare for all. While this achievement is significant, we have basically adopted 20 year old Republican ideas and called it health care reform. The door is now open, however, for more needed reform. In fact, now that health care has been reformed, the next thing we need to do is reform health care.
It's rather like the Reformation, a major slogan of which was "ecclesia semper reformanda"--"the church ever reforming." Health care will be like that, at least until our costs and outcomes are brought more in sync with those of other developed countries. As Atrios says, the bill takes "only baby steps" toward regulating insurance companies as public utilities, but at least it takes a step. More will be needed. Long live health care reform!
Good luck with that. This is it. I'll wager that reconciliation bill doesn't even make it through the Senate. It's a great day for Blue Cross and Aetna - the best reform they could have hoped for from a Democratic administration. For- profit health insurance is safe for the foreseeable future. I wouldn't say the same for Medicare.
Posted by: Hypatia | March 22, 2010 at 11:22 AM
I agree, which explains my tepid response. Still, it's better than nothing, and does beg some "fixes."
Posted by: John Petty | March 25, 2010 at 04:45 PM