Quote:
Originally Posted by mykalberta
He said he would get it done and he got it done.
Now I assume the Senate needs to pass this.
Strange that the bill says it "forces" everyone to buy insurance. I guess that is the American way now.
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The Senate has already passed it. Now it goes to conference, then Obama signs it into law.
This was a much harder sell than Bush's little "tax cut"--so in terms of a domestic agenda, Obama has now achieved more in his first term than Bush did in two. Bush lowered the bar, but Obama has now finally cleared it. He has a way to go before he will be remembered as a great president (you do have to be a lot better than "a little bit better than the worst president in history"), but he's at least moving in a good direction.
However, this bill is indeed a watered-down half measure, in the end. It does put band-aids on some of the problems, but it does so in a way that because it doesn't reform the billing structure in the U.S., is needlessly costly.
The chart somebody posted above illustrates with perfect clarity the major problem with U.S. health care. It's too expensive, and too much money is being funnelled from public purses and the poor into the pockets of a profiteering health care industry.
Really, this whole thing was a battle between two factions: one of them was completely beholden to insurance companies, the other one was
slightly less beholden to insurance companies. The "slightly less bought-and-paid-for" faction won. I guess that's a good thing, if I have to choose a side.