One Step Closer. . . .

The health care bill President Obama and congressional Democrats have been struggling to get passed for so long may finally make it on Sunday, when a version of the bill passed by the Senate comes up for a vote in the House. (The Senate would then vote on a reconciliation.) The legislation would, among other things, add taxes on health care industries, close the funding gap in the Medicare prescription drug program, ban companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, regulate health insurance companies, and expand coverage to 95 percent of all Americans, up from 83 percent. The bill would cost $940 billion over ten years, save $138 billion in the first decade after passage, and save $1.2 trillion in the second decade.

The bill still needs enough Democrats to support it - not even the saving s can move any Republicans, intent on stopping health care reform of any kind, to support it - and they're currently a handful of representatives short of a 216-vote majority (owing to four vacancies). But the bill got a boost when Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) decided to support it rather than oppose it on the grounds that it lacked a public insurance option or an expansion of Medicare to anyone under 65. he realized that meaningful steps to single-payer insurance aren't going to happen - this is America, after all. But he did realize that more people need coverage and that any necessary fixes can be made later. Kucinich also knows that Obama needs this bill to pass lest his presidential authority and prerogatives be undermined.

In other words, this bill is too big to fail.

I hope this is over soon, and that the bill gets passed, but frankly, I hope the Obama administration has learned its lesson in trying to deal with the Republicans on a bipartisan basis because you can't win with that crowd. They believe that pro-business economic model that taxes the middle class and punishes the poor is a perfect system for America, and they tolerate no deviation from their idea of the norm - which has been the norm for thirty years. If Obama wants to change the direction of this country, he can't expect help from people who like America just the way it is.