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The Good News and Bad News on the Health Care Reform Bill’s Passage
Both supporters and critics agree on this: the passage of the health care reform bill was a historic event. What they can’t (or in some cases simply will not) agree on is what it means. Here are some thoughts on the Good News and Bad News about the bill, the process it took to pass, and what it revealed about our polity and our leaders:
THE GOOD NEWS is that the fact that the Democrats were able to make a deal among themselves showed that the party was capable of coalition building. In these days when the dominant faction of each political party seemingly is on the warpath against the “in name only” (RINOS, DINOS), the Democrats — in some cases kicking and screaming all the way — emerged perhaps unhappily as a functioning big tent for factions of the Democratic party. The pro and anti-abortion factions united to pass the bill, despite how they perceived each other.
THE BAD NEWS is that the final vote again showed that bipartisan coalition building is on tough times. No matter what the actual reason is used by partisan and ideological pundits (Did the Democrats exclude Republicans and refuse to consider their views? Did the Republicans simply decide to say “No” to oppose Barack Obama and ensure he couldn’t enact anything so they could paint him as an ineffectual President who can only make a decent speech and then only with a teleprompter?), the fact is that the two parties right now seem incapable of working together for the common good or even agreeing what that common good is.
THE GOOD NEWS is that the bill’s passage shows how American democracy can work, how people can set aside seemingly set in concrete demands to advance on an issue.
THE BAD NEWS is that the process and over the top rhetoric laced with partisan hatred (and in some isolated instances on the part of a few nuts racial slurs and pre-school like spitting) could be seen by some to be poor example for the world. The process and rhetoric, at times (many times in fact) hardly seemed as lofty an image as the Statue of Liberty. You can just see some Iraqi or Afghanistani following the news thinking: “Now wait a minute. They want us to be like THIS? THIS is what George Washington had in mind?” At times the process seemed to be less like “sausage making” than watching the beheadings of chickens.
THE GOOD NEWS is that Obama has shown that he is a President who values consensus – a value that was paramount in the 20th century before talk radio made over the top rhetoric, demonization, non-compromise, and rage vital tools to push hot buttons to rally partisans so that they could get their juices stirred up. The good news is that Obama is seemingly focused on aggregating interests versus aggravating them. In retrospect, Obama’s meeting at a retreat with GOPers and his health care reform summit helped to frame him as someone trying to reach an agreement with people he absolutely could not convince. That probably rallied more disgruntled Democrats to his side and mad them more willing to listen to his pleas for the bill’s passage at the end.
THE BAD NEWS is that Obama showed a willingness to almost lose the initiative on leadership in his attempt to enact his policies using consensus to the point where he risked being a President perceived as having little clout and a seemingly soft spine. That perception now seems outdated.
THE GOOD NEWS for independent voters and others who value consensus and political discussion that doesn’t involve having to hate the other side is that the House vote (which may NOT be the end of this saga since this lady has not sung until the final bill is past the Senate) underscores what we have repeatedly noted on this site: talk radio hosts need to cut off a targetted demographic and deliver it to advertisers as a segment and do so by whipping up partisan and ideological beliefs and resentments. That is not the same as what parties need to do. The GOP’s decision after Obama’s decision to essentially follow the lead of talk show hosts — in essence making them strategists, echoing them and even apologizing to them if it seemed like there was criticism of them — and rejecting trying to work with and legislatively outfox the Democrats now looks like it was a big mistake. Be sure to read former Bush speechwriter David Frum in full: he is on the same wavelength as many posts that have run on TMV. Political parties have kept power by only appealing to true believers, but coalition building which requires some consensus and compromise has proven to be the enduring and politically endearing course (go back and read how Ronald Reagan upset many conservatives: Reagan is categorized as a “moderate” by one historian due to his willingness to work with the opposition and compromise to achieve his broader goals).
THE BAD NEWS is that partisans of both parties more than ever seem locked into what could be a political grudge match that will go on throughout the 21st century. Already GOPers are vowing to campaign to repeal health care reform (before it has even cleared the Senate and becomes law). On CNN last night one Republican was asked about repeal and talked in detail about how a lot of it could be wiped away by a new GOP majority so the issue could then be “revisited” and a new Republican plan was put in place. We seem headed now into a cycle where one dominant party will come into power and use whatever tools it can to enact its agenda..and the other party will become dominant and come in and use whatever tools it can to repeal or greatly gut what the other party did. The cycle may be ENACT/REPEAL.
THE GOOD NEWS is that independent voters (needed and hated by partisans of both parties) will still have some influence — most likely more than ever as independent voter ranks keep growing. Independent voters are not members of a monolithic group, but they keep re-evaluating so they must be wooed. And just talk radio polemics of the right or left won’t do it.
THE BAD NEWS is that there is no sign that mega-partisanship and the tensions between both parties are abating. It may take a major, catastrophic defeat of one party or hugely disappointing election results for some shift to occur where a prime value is working with the other side. Right now, essentially, each side accuses the other of bad faith — but the continued influence of the no-compromise-with-those-devils-on-the-other-side talk radio political culture suggests no shift is due in the immediate future.
THE GOOD NEWS is that health care reform’s passage means that the stage is now set for both sides to begin tinkering with the longer term issue of fixes to the system. Some of this may mean more legislating. Fine tuning can also mean serious fixes, dropping some aspects that don’t work out. The operative word here is “serious” — where the goal is to fix a policy to make it effective, not to rub the other side’s face in political power held at a given moment (a short-sighted approach since American history PROVES that dominant partisan power is provisional).
THE GOOD NEWS is that once again the conventional wisdom as pronounced in news stories, blog posts, TV and cable talking heads proved to be a poor guide to what actually happened. The FACT: politics is UNPREDICTABLE and any number of factors can change a perception or reality. Scott Brown’s election was supposed to have totally killed health care reform. NOT. But beware: the new conventional wisdom seems to be that the bill is now within a hair of becoming reality because in the end it will get throught he Senate. Is yet another strand of emerging conventional wisdom going to prove to be a collection of nice sounding verbal or written phrases in the end?
The OVERALL GOOD NEWS is that you can say “the system worked.”
The OVERALL BAD NEWS is that you can say “well…almost.”
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30 Responses to “The Good News and Bad News on the Health Care Reform Bill’s Passage”
Bad news one: HCR is one of those issues that don't lend themselves to bi-partisanship. Either you believe in this sort of government intervention or you do not. The fact that there is no public option could be viewed as a massive victory for Republicans. Also, as Pelosi stated…there are over 200 Rep amendments to the passed bill. They may not have voted for the bill, but they were involved in its shaping.
Bad news two: yes, people suck.
Bad news four: I think Presidents have been doing that for a while now. They roll into office and sign hundreds of EO's repealing the last Presidents EO's. This is just an extension of that behavior.
Bad news five: yes, people suck.
I am glad that there are these changes. The health care insurance system is a joke. After seeing Michael Moore's Sicko film and spending 1 year there. I truly could how terrible it was. It's about time things changed. If the opposition is not happy about it, maybe if they didn't spend so much money on sending the shuttle into space, there would be enough for health care. The insurance companies are rogues. Why should people choose if they have enough money to pay for the right to live and be healthy? Having health care is a necessity not a luxury!
There was bi-partisanship – in the no votes. But that doesn't fit the meme, does it?
[...] as to the law’s Constitutionality and the argument tactics some might employ. Moderatevoice editor-in-chief writes about the good news and bad news, politically for this country with healthcare [...]
You mean using taxpayer dollars for enough earmark favors and pork to buy votes?
Leo – you forgot the promise of an un-Constitutional Executive Order on abortion funding.
GOOD NEWS – The Health Insurance won't have to pay out to the shills they planted throughout the blogosphere so maybe next years insurance premium increase will be less than 20%.
BAD NEWS – Since the bill passed Leonidas and his cohorts won't be getting their bonus checks.
Obama has to sign the HCR bill before the Senate can start debating the reconcilliation bill. Even if something happens and the reconcilliation bill fails, HCR is still law, except that it would be the Senate bill alone, Cornhusker Kickback and all.
“Historic” — what a joke. Before yesterday, libs and Dems hated this legislation.
Grown-ups insist on the correct “controversial.”
What this is, is a big relief to the Dems, who have extracted themselves from the entanglement they created for themselves, and have forced legislation past the GOP opposition, who looks weaker than ever.
The Dems are now back effectively as they were before, in more power than they could ever have imagined they would have. (This is made possibly even more so by the ineffective GOP opposition.) We now wait to see what the Dems will do next. (The GOP's obvious strategy, and maybe the only strategy they can think of now, is to filibuster, amend, and otherwise oppose everything the Dems do the rest of the year.)
Will the Dems not be so stupid and repellent, and only be “mildly” rather than wildly abusive of their power the rest of the year? Have they learned anything? Or will they run rampant, possibly even “blaming” the GOP for the mess they created themselves, and becoming extra abusive in “retaliation”? That is certainly possible from the Dems we have observed this past year (and with the even more crazy leftist comments we have seen on this site and elsewhere on-line and in print and on the air waves).
Certainly we can't expect the Dems not to pander to the infantile entitlement demands of the amnesty, no-such-thing-as-no crowd, and we can't expect the Dems to neglect signing up more new Dem voters (legal voters, for a Change [tm]) prior to November. But will they abuse even this? Probably more than 50-50 so.
LOL the government is running it, 20% increases would be likely better than reality.
If Past is Prologue When it Comes to Guesstimating Actual Health Care Costs, Well, it Was Nice Knowing You All…
http://reason.com/blog/2010/03/21/if-past-is-pr…
Actual costs vs Estimated costs vs error ratios:
UK National Health Service 1.38 to 1
Medicare hospital insurance 7.44 to 1
Medicare (entire program) 9.17 to 1
Medicare ESRD program 2.29 to 1
Medicaid DSH program 17.00 to 1
Medicare home care benefit 2.50 to 1
Medicare catastrophic coverage 2.07 to 1
Massachusetts Health Reform 1.20 to 1
The naivete as well as the gushiness of libs today is laughable.
So far, I haven't seen too much silliness about Obama's “big risk” in postponing travel to put his political reputation on the line and how this has turned Obama into a giant, et cetera. [snicker]
What passage did do is give him as well as the Congre-Dems a boost politically (while the GOP caves in even more), in addition to great relief psychologically (the real issue here). That political bonus probably is going to probably affect what's happening this week, in case anybody forgot: Netanyahu is coming to town.
“Nirvana!” — libs
“Not so fast” — Florida, South Carolina, Alabama, Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Washington, Utah, North Dakota, and South Dakota, so far
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2010/0322/…
the fact is that the two parties right now seem incapable of working together for the common good or even agreeing what that common good is..”
**********
Replace the word “two” with the word “one” and you'll have an accurate sentence. The GOP is NONE about the common good and ALL about whoring for their corporate pimps, domestic and foreign…
If you think I'm kidding their chief clown-prostitute Glenn Beck just recently asked the catholic faith and other sects of christianity [in their entirety] to turn their backs on their lifelong faiths and insert a capitalistic credo where compassion once was preached…
Good:
1. That dems had a neato night parading in front of cameras, making sure that pre-existing conditions aren't going to be disqualifiers.
Bad
2. No public option so scores of them will get fired this Fall for failure. In case they hadn't checked the polls, VOTERS in the 80%-tile range wanted the public option. All that song and dance about how the GOP got to write some of the Bill is only going to kill their chances this Fall.
The GOP are consummate magicians who have long known how to turn cardboard surges into three-dimensional images to impart a certain punch behind what would otherwise be known in poker circles as “a bluff”. Dems failed in not including the Public Option because it is what the People want and they didn't get it. There is no immediate enactment. So voters won't see anything really, truly, tangibly different by Fall [another gain for the GOP]. Voters go by their guts, by real visible and drastic changes that are hard to forget. Much better to remind them in the Fall that their beloved Public Option that is already in place will be taken away by the GOP than to promise them it will be delivered if they vote democratic. Voters [God love them] aren't in their majority the most trusting bunch when it comes to dems delivering on promises. If they could've got it done now but didn't, they're going to remember that. And all the promises in the world won't mean a thing as one Brown after another will be rebelliously installed just to send a message.
Yes, dumb people will cut off their own noses to spite their faces in the name of protest.
“Not so fast” — Florida, South Carolina, Alabama, Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Washington, Utah, North Dakota, and South Dakota, so far
Interesting article – Virginia contends someone who chooses not to buy insurance is not engaging in commerce, therefore the feds have no jurisdiction under interstate commerce.
“Just living is not being part of interstate commerce.”
(Shhh — don't say that to the liberals who view everything in the universe as the “national economy.”)
[...] See the full article from “The Moderate Voice” [...]
[...] Joe Gandelman brings us the good, the bad and the ugly [...]
Sil — while there is no good news, and
“Opinion polls show the public, by a margin of 49 percent to 40 percent, opposed the legislation”
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62L0I0201…
all is not lost, my dear.
“No public option”
Something else is in the legislation that you should be aware of. May be good news for you.
Two important facts are necessary to understand the concern evident in the markets over the deficit impact of the legislation:
• The average cost of a family health insurance policy offered by employers was $13,375 in 2009, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust. On average, employees pay about 20% of premiums with the employer making up the rest (an average of $10,700 per employee).
• Under the exchange, the cost of a policy would be subsidized by the taxpayers for individuals and families with incomes up to 400% of the poverty level. This means a family of four with the national average income of about $70,000 (at 317% of the poverty level of about $22,000) would have their spending capped at 9.5% of income, which would be about $6,650. The other half of the cost of the insurance would be picked up by taxpayers.
http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/ma…
[...] See the full article from “The Moderate Voice” [...]
i hate what is happening in the united states. the republicans haven't done a thing for the american people either time they had control of the house or the senate. and all these people talking about obama like he's scum of the earth. and the republicans are using the american people to do their dirty work for them by all of this nonsense.they are feeding people lies and they know that they are lying but you have people out there listening to them spew hatered. it is so sad that other countries sre listening to all of this cramp.they are not going to stop until they bring him down[obama]. they have said this is what they want to do. and they are using the american people to help them.it's just sad.
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[...] See the full article from “The Moderate Voice” [...]
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[...] Gandelman at the Moderate Voice thinks Frum shows a good grasp of Republican history: “Political parties have kept power by only appealing to true believers, but coalition [...]
[...] Gandelman at the Moderate Voice thinks Frum shows a good grasp of Republican history: “Political parties have kept power by only appealing to true believers, but coalition building [...]