NY Times - "Last Call on Reforming Health Reform Bill"

[TomCADem]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/23/business/economy/23leonhardt.html?_r=1&ref=business

Economic Scene
Last Call on Reforming Health Reform Bill
By DAVID LEONHARDT
Published: December 22, 2009

Both the health care bill passed by the House of Representatives and the one that the Senate seems set to pass on Christmas Eve would begin to do away with such terrible choices, by making health insurance available to most everyone. That, by itself, would be a grand achievement.

It’s not enough, though. Our health care system, as I’m sure you have heard by now, also suffers from soaring costs and uneven quality. For health reform to be a success, it needs to make major progress on those problems, too.

The Senate bill has the potential to do that. It could still stand to be improved, but it’s pretty strong. The Congressional Budget Office projects that the bill would reduce the deficit by $132 billion over the next decade and roughly $1 trillion over the following decade.

The House bill, on the other hand, fails to attack high costs and spotty quality. So the big remaining question is whether the negotiations between the House and Senate in coming weeks will water down health reform or whether, somehow, those negotiations can strengthen it.

[DJ13]

1. The House bill, on the other hand, fails to attack high costs

The PO in the House bill is never given any credit with these idiots for reducing costs in the most important way........by lowering costs for the lower classes so their health care is affordable.

I've seen one MSM show after another promoting the Senate version over the House version by comparing total costs, but that ignores the reason the House version costs more ....because it does more to lower costs to those at the bottom of the economic ladder.