Almost three days have passed since the passage of the health care reform bill and, contrary to Tea Party clamoring, the United States has not ceased to exist.
In fact, the passage of the bill has been a little anticlimactic. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that, despite all of the hyperbole from each side, the healthcare reform act doesn’t actually change the system that much.
Contrary to the protestations of the far right, it does not amount to a government takeover of the healthcare system. In fact, it appears to perpetuate the existing private insurance system by making everyone get a private health insurance policy.
In the same way, it does not come close to providing the universal healthcare that was originally promised by the Democrats.
The healthcare reform law is instead a mish mash of tweaks to the current system, which will displease both the far right and far left. However, aside from some of the beneficial changes, such as the lifting of lifetime caps and eventual protection for those with pre-existing conditions, the best thing about this law is that it is a concrete step towards reform. There has been a lot of talk about healthcare reform over the last 100 years, but very little action. Now that some concrete action has actually been taken, both sides of the debate will be forced to continue to work on further changes, instead of delaying the inevitable reform to a later date.
That said, any changes and modifications to the new healthcare reform law should be made in the legislature, not in the courts. In this regard, Florida’s attorney general, Bill McCollum, is wasting time, resources and taxpayer’s money by challenging the law in the courts. Any lawyer worth his salt knows that McCollum’s chances of prevailing are slim to none – so why bother? Perhaps it’s because McCollum is running for Florida Governor and this lawsuit provides a high degree of public visibility for him. Furthermore, McCollum was one of the guys who was front and center in the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, so he knows a thing or two about how to waste time and public resources.
When all is said and done, everybody needs to take a deep breath, realize that not a lot has changed as a result of the healthcare reform law and instead focus on working towards further incremental change to the failing healthcare system.
