While a public option is an important part of health care reform it’s still only one small part of the health care reform legislation. As for the rest, Jonathan Gruber, a health economist at MIT, likes what he sees.
“My summary is it’s really hard to figure out how to bend the cost curve, but I can’t think of a thing to try that they didn’t try. They really make the best effort anyone has ever made. Everything is in here….I can’t think of anything I’d do that they are not doing in the bill. You couldn’t have done better than they are doing.”
Also note that Bush’s director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Mark McClellan gives the health care reform bill before Congress a B. It misses getting an A by not having enough tort reform for his taste.
Do we end up with B+ bill with no public option and no tort reform? Or, do our Senators negotiate to include both tort reform and a public option? I would say the latter if the Republicans would negotiate in good faith, but since they won’t we’ll probably get the former.
