Pooch is still a virgin: Senate passes HCR bill

OK. I was wrong. I predicted in this space that the Senate would fail to pass a meaningful health care reform bill. But in fact Harry Reid (with the President's help) was able to cobble together a supermajority and pass a health care reform bill. It was not without compromise, and a lot of political hay was made about the bacon that got fried to get the bill passed.
Nebraska won't have to pay for any of the cost of expanding Medicaid coverage in that state. One New England medical school hospital will get an extra $100 million. And a handful of other bribes. The Republicans are disingenuous to point the finger at the deal-making, since this is the way Congress has operated from its inception (remember the reason we have two houses of Congress was to get the small states to vote for the Constitution in the first place).
Conservative wingers and liberal wingers ("fringe" is a more appropriate term) would have been happier - or would have felt morally superior - if they had been able to defeat this bill: the left because it was too watered-down - a sell-out - and the right because it portended the inexorable march of socialism across our land. Thankfully, both fringes were unsucccessful.
Not that the Senate bill is the panacea. It is riddled with flaws and weaknesses. But it's a far sight better than the status quo, as is the House bill, as well. We simply could not continue on the road we were on. The truth is that, whatever compromise we end up with passing both houses will reduce the rate of spending growth and will eventually reduce the deficit, as well.
The right thing to do for the American people is to hammer out a bill in conference committee that can pass into law. It won't be perfect. Far from it. But, as I said above, it'll be better than where we would have ended up without a bill. Once the bill becomes law, Congress can begin the work of hammering out the dents and improving the law brick by brick.