Some smart people are not impressed with the bill passed last night:
Both on substance and politics, better to pass it than not. It does not do the important work of sowing the seeds of the insurance industry’s destruction, leaving the skimmers in place, and only takes baby steps towards moving them to the regulated public utility model. It also doesn’t get rid of their anti-trust exemption, leaving the effective monopolies in place. This leaves us open to continued abuses by the industry and fails to do the most important cost-cutting measure, cutting out the paper pushers who serve no useful purpose in the economy. But there is good in the bill, too, and one has to be a bit Hopey that over time demands by the public will make the bad and unpopular stuff less bad and less unpopular.
I hope eventually medicare is opened up to everyone and I think this bill is an important first step in seeing that happen. The Healthcare reform bill was not perfect but it may be a perfect start; as now people seem to have acknowledged that healthcare is in fact a basic right, the debate should now move to how best to make sure that right is enjoyed by every person in the U.S.