Health Care Reform

This morning, on a party line vote, the Senate passed a bill purporting to reform the health care system in the USA. That is the good news.

The bad news is that Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada), who can only be described as very small minded and worse than partisan, has created a truly appalling piece of legislation. While the Senate bill might reduce, but not eliminate, the population of the uninsured, it will do little to increase the quality, or contain the costs, of health care in the USA.

Worse, the process of getting, and keeping, every single Democratic Senator on board has allowed blackmailers to demand the insertion of expensive special interest provisions into the bill. 'Larded with Pork', while a tiresome cliche, is a very modest term for this abysmal piece of work.

The bill now goes to a House - Senate conference committee where it must be reconciled with a significantly different - not quite as bad but still not at all good - bill that was passed by the House of Representatives on November 7th. President Obama, apparently heeding President Clinton's failed efforts (sometimes derisively known as 'Hillarycare') to reform the health care system in 1993, has remained above the fray and allowed the Congress to create a pair of ugly and incoherent monsters. Strong Presidential leadership will be essential if anything good is to emerge from the conference committee.

Unfortunately for our nation, the defining characteristics of Mr. Obama's first year in office have been eloquence and a woeful lack of leadership. On the campaign trail, his speeches were reminiscent of President Reagan's ability to communicate and inspire: unfortunately, the record of Mr. Obama's first year in office proves that his leadership skills are minimal compared to those possessed by that giant.

I would be pleased to be proven wrong but am not optimistic. The American health care system is broken but the bills passed by the House and the Senate offer no real solution. It may well be that the least bad outcome is no bill at all.