Big Issue Among Liberals: Start Over Or Pass What We Can Get

Nate Silver makes the case that we’d be silly not to pass a bill that will lower premiums. The average premium has increased 8.7% a year during the past decade.

For any “progressive” who is concerned about the inequality of wealth, income and opportunity in America, this bill would be an absolutely monumental achievement.

Silver’s done the work that shows a family of four, for example, making $54,000 a year, pays $4,000 in premiums in 2016 with this bill.  With no bill, that cost will be more than double.

At Kos, differing with Marcos himself, “As I Said GOOD DAY Sir” remarks:

Even if you want a more progressive bill, pull your head out and realize that this is not necessarily the bill that will be sent to the President. It has to go through CONFERENCE first. This is a step on the way. Is it the step we were hoping for? No. But you know what, Rahm is right about one thing: any bill past the Senate is a bill that can be worked out in conference and is a guaranteed step forward, even if it’s not your favorite step forward.

Ezra Klein says it’s a good – not great, but good – start:

With $900 billion in subsidies already in place, it’s easier to add another hundred billion later, if we need it, than it would be to pass $1 trillion in subsidies in 2011. With the exchanges built and private insurers unable to hold down costs, it’s easier to argue for adding a strong public option to the market than it was before we’d tried regulation and a new competitive structure. With 95 percent of the country covered, it’s easier to go the final 5 percent. And with a health-care reform bill actually passed, it’s easier to convince legislators that passing such bills is possible.

On its own terms, the bill is the most important social policy achievement since the Great Society. It will save a lot of lives and prevent a lot of suffering. But moving forward, it also makes future improvements and expansions easier.

So do we throw it out as Howard Dean says, or do we take this bill as a start toward what can eventually be achieved?

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.