Something good, something rotten
WASHINGTON — The health care reform bill coming out of the Senate presents a real dilemma for spectators: How do you applaud while holding your nose?
There is so much that is wrong with it—and the way it was made—and, at the same time, so much that is right that you just have to shake your head in despair and in wonder.
As one who covered the Clintons’ struggle 15 years ago to pass health care reform and wrote an overly long book about their failure even to bring it to a vote in a Democratic Congress, I am in awe at the prospect of such a bill making it all the way to the White House.
When implemented years from now, it promises to make as many as 30 million men and women who now live with the fear of illness or hospitalization leading straight to financial ruin eligible for the same care as their more fortunate, insured neighbors.
Six decades after his death, one of FDR’s Four Freedoms will, at long last, be guaranteed to almost all Americans. And the shame of this affluent society tolerating the denial of health care to its own citizens will be largely lifted.
But Lord, what a load of embarrassment accompanies this sense of satisfaction! What should have been a moment of proud accomplishment for the U.S. Senate, right up there with the passage of Social Security and the first civil rights bills, was instead a travesty of low-grade political theater—angry rhetoric and backroom deals.
There’s blame enough to go around. Start with the 40 Republicans, not one of whom was willing to break out of the mold of negative conformity and offer a sustained working partnership in serious legislative effort.
But even those Republicans who were initially inclined to do that—and there were at least a handful of them—were turned away by the White House and Senate Democratic leaders, who never lifted their sights much beyond the Democratic ranks.
Forced to bargain for every vote among the 60 in his caucus, Majority Leader Harry Reid did what he usually does: He reduced the negotiations to his own level of transactional morality. Incapable of summoning his colleagues to statesmanship, he made the deals look as crass and parochial as many of them were—encasing a historic achievement in a wrapping of payoff and patronage.
The taint has rubbed off on the bill. This week’s Quinnipiac University poll found a 53-36 percent majority disapproving of the legislation and an overwhelming number—73 percent to 18 percent—saying they do not believe it will, as promised, reduce future budget deficits.
It now becomes President Obama’s personal responsibility to strengthen the cost-saving features of the bill and present them in a better way. Two of them are vulnerable to attack when the bill goes back to conference with the House in January. Liberal Democrats do not like the independent commission in the Senate bill having power to enforce savings in Medicare and the private health system. And labor does not accept the Senate plan to tax high-end insurance plans.
Obama has not intervened with a heavy hand as the bill has moved through the House and Senate, but now it is time for him to act.
It would help a lot if he reached out personally to those few Republicans who might still want to improve the bill rather than sink it. And it would help even more if he shamed Democrats into rescinding some of the crasser bargains they made to buy votes along the way.
The country would welcome even a few signs that this legislation has bipartisan support.
Then we could applaud its final passage and take our thumbs down from our noses.
David Broder is a columnist for The Washington Post. Readers may write to him via e-mail at davidbroder@washpost.com.
Jan 2, 2010 at 7:43 a.m.
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Health insurance should only cost $800 per year. Simply have the insured pay the first $200 of every visit and people will stop abusing and over-using insurance benefits.
Dec 29, 2009 at 9:04 a.m.
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Medical debt is a big part of the reason that the credit bubble burst. Sure, a large part of the problem is our collective addiction to retail, but at least an equal (or possibly larger) share is tied up in debt from medical procedures.
Besides, most people seem to have caught on to the fact that insurance is a racket. The insurance companies' aim is not to provide a service or to encourage health--it is to make money, even if at the expense of human life.
Helping to subsidize the outrageous cost of health care is not only the humane and ethical thing to do, it will also be more economical in the long run. Let's keep in mind that people had these same arguments before Social Security became a reality, and that program has not bankrupted or ruined the country.
Dec 29, 2009 at 8:57 a.m.
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lemmings...
Dec 29, 2009 at 8:43 a.m.
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Healthcare reform is coming - like it or not. Let's move-on from 'debating' whether we should have it, to "shaping' the way it will be. It would be a better use of your time.
Dec 29, 2009 at 8:11 a.m.
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The healthcare bill will only perpetuate greed at a continued high cost for everyone. I don’t see the problem that we have with healthcare as an insurance problem, I see it as a high cost for services problem. There is an expensive charge for services before the claim reaches the insurance company. I had a sleep study performed in 2005. This entails attaching probes to your body connected to a PC to collect data and sleep for eight hours, monitored to observe you snore. The cost submitted to the insurance company, $3,300.00. I would find it expensive if you were to move decimal point one place to the left, $330.00. A friend of mine had the same sleep study at a different location around the same year time period and the cost was over $10,000.00. This is in the realm of the $1,200.00 oil change. People in America seem to accept that healthcare is supposed to be expensive. The bill is over one thousand pages and to me contains serious intrusion clauses into our lives that to me represent a bill that has other motives built in other than healthcare. Like government access to our bank accounts, mandatory government home inspections for first time mothers, etc. just to name a few. There are too many ridiculous parts contained in the bill to list here. People need to be cautious about applauding something that they do not know what its contents are.
Dec 26, 2009 at 9:45 p.m.
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This Christmas Carnage called health care reform is the worst betrayal ever foisted on hundreds of millions of Americans by representatives we trusted.
Endless crimes against humanity are continually be committed by financial, energy, health care and numerous other industries because the President and legislators are refusing to allow laws protecting fairness and fraud prevention to be enforced.
War on corruption should be declared to hunt down our enemies from within and when the Congress, Senate and President have that law in place then everybody can go back to work to focus on solving the problems and paying for the damage that businesses and politicians gone wild caused.
Maybe some ignored voices with better ideas for health care could be heard to start over and do the health reform that is required.
We have an incredible country rich in assets and people that is floundering because of an endless array of self inflicted wounds caused by unfair regulatory actions put in place to favor those who can and will purchase advantages at the expense of those targeted to be exploited.
Neither Presidents Bush nor Obama nor Republican nor Democrat Legislators have been effective in preventing massive financial damage to consumers and the US Treasury in fact every purported reform brings more hardships for the Treasury and consumers and more profits to industries which willingly shuffle money to lobbyists and politicians.
Using a carrot and stick, by offering amnesty for cooperation or pursuing prosecutions for lawbreakers who try to hide, would save tons of money and years of time investigating, which did what, and how they did it, while creating these endless assaults against us.
The sabotaging of our country has to stop now.
The easiest way to end this madness would be to allow everyone who confesses everything to keep their jobs or ill-gotten gains and be exempt from prosecutions and the hundreds of billions maybe even trillions that they stole would be a small price to pay if we could quickly get our country back, before it becomes irretrievable.
Dec 25, 2009 at 4:39 p.m.
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Communism is a form of government. The People's Republic of China is a socialist republic (per its constitution, a "people's democratic dictatorship" (1) ruled by the Communist Party of China under a single-party system.
Capitalism is an economic and social system where capital is invested and any profits derived are reinvested or distributed to the investor/owners. In China, capitalism is permitted to operate within guidelines established by the communist government. Therefore, capitalism in China differs from capitalism in the United States mainly because... wait... give me a minute... OK, I'll need to get back to you...
(1) http://english.people.com.cn/constitutio...
Dec 25, 2009 at 11:08 a.m.
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Andre...If you believe China is still a communist country, you had better do a little research. They are now as capitalistic as any nation on our planet. Before you badmouth other bloggers here, get an education.
Dec 25, 2009 at 9:48 a.m.
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161 Republican amendments in the Senate finance committee bill, did they all get stripped out?
Dec 25, 2009 at 9:14 a.m.
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Broder and the rest of his anti-American negativity clan are certainly welcome to leave the country for greener pastures. They would not be missed by the great majority of Americans!
Dec 25, 2009 at 9:01 a.m.
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How warped is this point of view..."Start with the 40 Republicans, not one of whom was willing to break out of the mold of negative conformity and offer a sustained working partnership in serious legislative effort."
The opposing side offered many amendments and recommendations. In the end the bill contained none of them...guess you want to change the view on events before even a week has passed.
Dec 25, 2009 at 5:41 a.m.
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Too many things in the bill do not pass the smell test. And now that a few states got sweetheart deals (exemptions from a bill that was to help all)(if the bill was so great why are exemptions needed from it?) others will want to do the same and we'll be right back in the same old boat. Still waiting for a true and accurate cost of the bill (it changes everyday and not for the better).
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