Getting the job done

The House of Representatives has passed a health-care reform bill with a public option (link sent by Ranch Chimp). The much more difficult task of getting something worthwhile through the Senate still lies ahead, but still, this is an achievement to celebrate.

It's not perfect. It will supposedly extend coverage to about 96% of Americans (so we still can't simply cover all citizens like every other developed nation does). Abortion coverage is restricted to satisfy a passel of conservative Democrats. But it's far better than what we have now. If finally enacted, it will save thousands of lives. And we're much better off getting an imperfect reform that can be improved later than insisting on everything up front and not being able to pass it at all.

The margin of passage was narrow, but that's a good thing, not a bad thing. It suggests that what we got here is probably the best we could get. Every additional vote would have been won at the cost of some concession or other. Winning by a small margin is still winning.

There's more on the bill (and on right-wing reactions) at Politics Plus and Reconstitution 2.0.