Count me among the ungiddy. What's amazing, in a chilly sort of way, is that there were four votes for throwing out the law in its entirety. The health care system is in an alarming state of disarray--costs spiking upward, access shrinking, poor outcomes compared to the rest of the "advanced" world--the Rs, as ever, in denial--and the Ds deliver what once would have qualified as a conservative, business-friendly reform that has the efffect of delivering millions of the uninsured into the loving embrace of the private insurance industry. And the Supreme Court was on the edge of canning it, the whole thing beyond the pale of the Constitution.
Compel people to pay beforehand for health care that they will receive? Saying "no" to free loading? Outrageous! Government intrusion! Unconstitutional!
Very nearly so, it seems. It's more proof, if any was needed, of how far the conservative center has shifted. Not a single Republican in either the House or the Senate voted for what twenty years ago would have been regarded as a right-wing, Heritage Foundation bill. And when it passes Supreme Court muster, 5 to 4, we're supposed to wave our palm branches at Voter #5!
Still, a relief. Atul Gawande collects stories of patients whose health has been adversely affected by a lack of insurance, then appends some sensible analysis.
