by Bill Kavanagh: Paul Krugman sums up the situation on health care reform nicely in his column today. It's decision-time. A few months back, we almost had an imperfect, but enormously significant reform which had passed both houses of Congress. Now, we might just get almost the same package passed, finally. It's up to a few members of Congress to step up.
The alternative, as Krugman points out, is more of the same bone-crunching cruelty that is health insurance today in America. People get thrown off the rolls when they become ill, are undercovered or not covered at all when they are well (or at least think they are), and are paying premiums without knowing whether they'll be honored when it counts.
This weekend should finally tell whether the United States joins the ranks of every other developed nation in providing for reasonably universal coverage, whether imperfectly or not.
One way or another, the fate of health care reform is going to be decided in the next few days. If House Democratic leaders find 216 votes, reform will almost immediately become the law of the land. If they don’t, reform may well be put off for many years — possibly a decade or more.
(Kavanagh cross-posts at Bill's Big Diamond.)
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