Dems Victorious in an Epic Battle Over Health Care: You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine

"I just can’t do what I done before,

I just can’t beg you anymore.

I’m gonna let you pass

And I’ll go last.

Then time will tell just who fell

And who’s been left behind,

When you go your way and I go mine."

--Bob Dylan

The Democratic Party, seeking reform, reached the limit of its willingness to compromise and passed the Health Care Reform Bill in Congress by a 219-212 margin.

From the NY TIMES:

-The health care bill would require most Americans to have health insurance, would add 16 million people to the Medicaid rolls and would subsidize private coverage for low- and middle-income people, at a cost to the government of $938 billion over 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office said.

-The bill would require many employers to offer coverage to employees or pay a penalty. Each state would set up a marketplace, or exchange, where consumers without such coverage could shop for insurance meeting federal standards.

-The budget office estimates that the bill would provide coverage to 32 million uninsured people, but still leave 23 million uninsured in 2019. One-third of those remaining uninsured would be illegal immigrants.

-The new costs, according to the budget office, would be more than offset by savings in Medicare and by new taxes and fees, including a tax on high-cost employer-sponsored health plans and a tax on the investment income of the most affluent Americans.

-Cost estimates by the budget office, showing that the bill would reduce federal budget deficits by $143 billion in the next 10 years, persuaded some fiscally conservative Democrats to vote for the bill.

-Democrats said Americans would embrace the bill when they saw its benefits, including some provisions that take effect later this year.

The NY TIMES provides a nice interactive graphic on what it could be mean to you.

NY TIMES: How your Congressperson voted on the Health Care Reform Bill

Paul Krugman: 'Fear Strikes Out': "The day before Sunday’s health care vote, President Obama gave an unscripted talk to House Democrats. Near the end, he spoke about why his party should pass reform: “Every once in a while a moment comes where you have a chance to vindicate all those best hopes that you had about yourself, about this country, where you have a chance to make good on those promises that you made ... And this is the time to make true on that promise. We are not bound to win, but we are bound to be true. We are not bound to succeed, but we are bound to let whatever light we have shine.”

"And on the other side, here’s what Newt Gingrich, the Republican former speaker of the House — a man celebrated by many in his party as an intellectual leader — had to say: If Democrats pass health reform, “They will have destroyed their party much as Lyndon Johnson shattered the Democratic Party for 40 years” by passing civil rights legislation."

"I’d argue that Mr. Gingrich is wrong about that: proposals to guarantee health insurance are often controversial before they go into effect — Ronald Reagan famously argued that Medicare would mean the end of American freedom — but always popular once enacted."

"But that’s not the point I want to make today. Instead, I want you to consider the contrast: on one side, the closing argument was an appeal to our better angels, urging politicians to do what is right, even if it hurts their careers; on the other side, callous cynicism. Think about what it means to condemn health reform by comparing it to the Civil Rights Act. Who in modern America would say that L.B.J. did the wrong thing by pushing for racial equality? (Actually, we know who: the people at the Tea Party protest who hurled racial epithets at Democratic members of Congress on the eve of the vote.) "  Full article here

With the vote over, the battle for health care reform is just beginning; political and legal struggles ahead.

Nancy Pelosi: Leader-in-Chief of the Congressional Victory. Salon article here