Still a Better Deal than Nothing

Even if the Senate Bill has been watered down, Ezra Klein makes the point that it's still better than nothing:

To put this a bit more sharply, if I could construct a system in which insurers spent 90 percent of every premium dollar on medical care, never discriminated against another sick applicant, began exerting real pressure for providers to bring down costs, vastly simplified their billing systems, made it easier to compare plans and access consumer ratings, and generally worked more like companies in a competitive market rather than companies in a non-functional market, I would take that deal. And if you told me that the price of that deal was that insurers would move from being the 86th most profitable industry to being the 53rd most profitable industry, I would still take that deal.

I have too many friends on the left who think that without the public option this bill will simply subsidize insurance companies. But that's too simplistic and ignores the real accomplishments of the bill. Like the subsidies that give lower-income families access to health care, the regulations that stop the denial of coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, the reforms that will bring  down costs across the board.

I understand it's because they're mad. I get that. But don't cut off your nose to spite your face. Especially when you're about to win. That's like walking away at the 1 yard line. It's vanity. It's not in the best interest of the uninsured or the country.

The system isn't designed for broad, sweeping changes. It favors the incremental revolutionary. That's what this is: big change achieved step-by-step. Don't give up the quest just because it turned out to be a longer walk than you'd anticipated.