only the beginning
In the wee small hours of this morning, the Senate passed it’s health care bill. While I may not be entirely happy with the contents, I’m happy it got passed; passing some flavor of health care reform is important, if only to set the precedent for more comprehensive reforms in the months and years ahead.
Yeah, the President said we’re “toward the end” of the health care debate, but I’m going to assume, very loudly and publicly, that he’s referring only to this bill, and not to the larger reform efforts that we certainly need long-term.
Baby steps. The US government does not, as I’ve said many times, does not turn on a dime.
Now, of course, the Senate and the House have to get together with their conference committees and turn their two quite different bills into one that both houses of Congress can agree on. I wish them the best of luck with that, and hope that they can come up with something that everyone can live with, but still has some real, reforming teeth.
In any case, I’ll take a historic step in the effort to bring the US’s health care system up to spec with the rest of the world; it’s a pretty decent Christmas present.
