Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Health insurance reform inches along towards passage

Yes, everybody has to hold their noses when they dig into the gory details of the various health insurance reform proposals grinding their way through the digestive system of the snake called Congress, but the simple truth is that there is a lot of good stuff in there that will be a solid foundation for future health reform efforts. Sure, it would be nice to have a better proposal or even a perfect proposal, but we have got to focus on what is doable in the current political and economic environment. In any case, the various proposals are incrementally changed to make them more palatable to a broader political base. The net result is that we are getting closer and closer to a legislative package that can actually be passed by Congress and signed into law. This really is going to happen!

A vote in September is almost assured. Or, they could spend more time in September to improve the bill further, but that would be even better.

This is not the end-all of health reform. My personal view is that the real end-all proposal will come 3 to 5 years down the road after our social and economic and political system digests the actual reforms in the real world and then we will have solid support for a better, more comprehensive longer-term proposal.

I expect that we will have at least annual congressional efforts to tweak the reforms as we gain more real-world experience. Maybe even a couple revisions every year.

My condolences to those left-wingnuts who want a pure single-payer system. Ain't gonna happen. Ever.

My assurance to those right-wingnuts worried about a federal government takeover of the health care system. Ain't gonna happen. Ever.

To everybody else, there is something in reform for everybody. Maybe even including me.

-- Jack Krupansky

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