| Health care wonk and blogger Ezra Kline visited Missoula Wednesday and took the packed Badlander from euphoria to a state of grave realism.
As seems typical these days, Kline's youth and fresh looks sparked a few comments. The champions of the online punditry rarely have a worry line, a gray streak or an unwanted bulge. And then he gave a frank discussion of the state of health care reform: this probably won't pass, even though the need is dire.
"The health care crisis is not about health, it's about economics and finances," Kline said. "We have a political problem, not a policy problem."
Health care reform plans have been presented in the past.
"Reform hasn't failed because the proposals weren't good," he said.
The American political system is set up to defeat any real changes to the status quo.
In response to a question, Kline said Sen. Max Baucus should use the so-called "nuclear option" to pass reform. That means Baucus would call for an up-and-down vote, in a process known as budget reconciliation. Baucus has not ruled out the option.
That option should be exercised, he said, because the consequences are so important.
One attendee, Lois Markel, told a story that brought the issue from the political to the personal. She told about her husband, a veteran, who has suffered through seizures while she waited on the phone for assistance, and about a nephew who suffered a traumatic brain injury but didn't have insurance to help him recover. |
