The New York Times had a terrific editorial on the health care crisis. Aside from the fact that it will be read by many people, the piece's greatest contribution to the debate may be that it makes clear how complicated and deep-seated the problems are.
This is the kind of issue that presents a challenge to the democratic process, at least as it is presently practiced in the United States. In a former age, when Democrats and Republicans could work together on important matters, we might have seen a coalition of congressmen and/or senators from the two parties getting together to hammer out a compromise program that recognized the legitimate concerns of the different interests and belief systems engaged in the debate.
Can that happen today? The S-chip debacle is both encouraging and a lesson on how hard progress is. The bills that emerged from committees in the House and Senate were the products of broad bipartisan consensus unseen for well over a decade. On the other hand, the inability to obtain a sufficient majority to enact the legislation--and the willingness of GOP House members to accept even a compromise that met their stated objections to the original bill--for a relatively simple piece of the health-care puzzle does not bode well for progress on the far larger and more complex challenge of providing comprehensive health care to 300 million Americans.
True, the prospect of replacing George W. Bush with a Democrat gives hope that the nation can finally make progress on this vital issue, but even if that occurs, a comprehensive national health policy that assures coverage for all Americans is by no means assured.
This is the kind of issue that presents a challenge to the democratic process, at least as it is presently practiced in the United States. In a former age, when Democrats and Republicans could work together on important matters, we might have seen a coalition of congressmen and/or senators from the two parties getting together to hammer out a compromise program that recognized the legitimate concerns of the different interests and belief systems engaged in the debate.
Can that happen today? The S-chip debacle is both encouraging and a lesson on how hard progress is. The bills that emerged from committees in the House and Senate were the products of broad bipartisan consensus unseen for well over a decade. On the other hand, the inability to obtain a sufficient majority to enact the legislation--and the willingness of GOP House members to accept even a compromise that met their stated objections to the original bill--for a relatively simple piece of the health-care puzzle does not bode well for progress on the far larger and more complex challenge of providing comprehensive health care to 300 million Americans.
True, the prospect of replacing George W. Bush with a Democrat gives hope that the nation can finally make progress on this vital issue, but even if that occurs, a comprehensive national health policy that assures coverage for all Americans is by no means assured.
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