Hooray! More later

Hooray for the final passage of HCR: pretty much as expected. As I predicted in the last blog, even Bart Stupak and fellow anti-abortionists showed that they are Democrats -- after Obama provided cover for their pro votes. I have to give him credit for recognizing that they could be brought on board simply by promising in a presidential directive exactly what was already in the bill.

It ain't over just yet, because the Republicans will challenge the suitability of all sorts of provisions for reconciliation. Nevertheless, once Obama signs what has been passed so far, we'll have some sort of healthcare reform. It will need an awful lot of tweaking -- more than that really: it needs at least a public option and preferably single-payer in order to actually save money by containing costs. Of course, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to find out how to do this: just look at the dozen or so countries that have left us in the dust by providing quality healthcare at far lower cost.

The PTR -- What part of beneath contempt don't you understand? -- has been reduced to shouting invective and cheering soccer rowdies -- OK, healthcare rowdies -- in the cheap seats. Oh also, at least one of them decided to call Bart Stupak, of all people, a "baby killer" from the floor of the House. Every time they try to rise to "merely contemptible" they don't quite make it.

BTW: To help keep up with new developments in healthcare, I read Merrill Goozner's interesting blog The GoozNews.