Congress has lost its mind...

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

And those, "detailed briefings" and "easy-to-read four or ten page summaries", are created by non-partisan, no axe to grind, no agenda, never saw a lobbyist, Capitol Fairies.

The summarized intent of a bill, is rarely the full consequences of a law that gets passed. Sure keeps the lawyers and courts busy, though.

There is also the non-partisan CRS summary and the non-partisan CBO cost analysis (granted, its only a "best" estimate).

And of course, the health insurance companies love this bill so much, they are spending $millions in lobbying and public media campaigns against it.

There are winners and losers in every major piece of legislation and there is no such thing as a perfect bill...there are always trade-offs and there always have been.

IMO, the big winners are:

the 30-40 million currently uninsured, most of whom are hard working, productive citizens who just happened to work for small businesses that dont provide insurance and who personally cannot afford insurance on the current open market.

the 200+ million who are now covered by employer-based plans who wont see their contributions continue to increase at a rate more than double their salary every year, whose out-of-pocket annual expenses will now be capped so that no one faces bankruptcy as a result of an unforeseen medical crisis, who wont have to make co-pays for basic preventive care, and whose insurance will now be more portable if/when they change jobs.

and those with pre-exisiting conditions who will no longer be denied coverage at affordable rates.

There are no guarantees in life and even fewer in federal legislation.

You go with your best shot and proceed towards achieving the goals set in the legislation...and if necessary, once implemented, make corrections along the way.

The Republicans had their shot for eight years and chose to do nothing.

Or we could just continue to let the problem fester.