Friday, March 12, 2010
And So It Starts...
It looks like the Congress is going to get a healthcare reform package through the doors, finally, by resorting to budget reconciliation to match up the House bill with the Senate version. It looks close enough the President has postponed his trip to Asia in order to be around and sign the measure into law. This will happen, I am sure, within moments of it being passed by Congress.
And so it starts…
Next the bureaucrats will get their multiple copies to start figuring out just what is in the bill. No one in Congress is really positive about all the ins-and-outs of this behemoth after all the juggling and jostling and political wrangling that has been going on for the past twelve months or so. And the bureaucrats will start with the “big picture” and work their way down to who has to do what, where and when.
And so it starts…
In a few months the first regulations will start to surface based on the new law and we will hear about just what is in the bill. Oh, I don’t pretend to know exactly what is in the bill even though I read the first draft that was released – all of it. It did not make any sense then and I am sure the final version will not make any sense after it is signed into law. But the bureaucrats will interpret the law and make it make sense for all of us.
And so it starts…
The political wrangling to come for the next “mid-term” elections will be fascinating to watch. The Republicans will be running out all the horror stories with a “see, I told you so” attitude and the Democrats will be running out all the success stories with a “neener, neener, neener!” attitude. To be sure there will stories on both sides and it will be up to us to determine who was right and who was wrong.
And so it starts…
As with all industrialized nations which have adopted universal coverage, health care reform will continue to be a major campaign and legislative issue. Wonder when they will have time for anything else?
