House Passes Historic Health Care Reform

HopeTracker| The biggest transformation of America’s health system since medicare was approved in the House of Representatives late Sunday night, as generations of Democrats won approval for near-universal health coverage.

Democrats bet they could overcome public misgivings on a bill that reshapes one-sixth of the U.S. economy. They have until fall to convince Americans that the plan is in their best interests and not a government takeover of their lives.

We’re adding commentary by publication:

Wall Street Journal:

The legislation will extend health coverage to 32 million Americans now without insurance, according to the Congressional Budget Office. It will mandate that almost every American carry health insurance—a provision that opponents are set to challenge in the courts. To help people get covered, the legislation expands Medicaid, the federal-state health program for the poor, and gives subsidies to families making as much as $88,000 a year. via House Passes Historic Health Bill

New York Times

NYTimes writes that after an attempt to be the bipartisam president, Obama has become America’s third polarizing president in a row. On the verge of losing his liberal base, he may have reclaimed them:

“Let’s face it, he’s failed in the effort to be the nonpolarizing president, the one who can use rationality and calm debate to bridge our traditional divides,” said Peter Beinart, a liberal essayist who is publishing a history of hubris in politics. “It turns out he’s our third highly polarizing president in a row. But for his liberal base, it confirms that they were right to believe in the guy — and they had their doubts.” via Obama’s Health Care Victory Carries a Cost

Also from NYTimes graphs and data How the Health Care Overhaul Could Affect You

A Tainted Victory The Atlantic

Nuns and Bishops

One of the biggest stories of the health care debate is that of Catholic bishops and nuns. Most agree that the bishops ended up on the sidelines in the debate, upstaged by Catholic nuns who accepted the Senate wording on abortion and whose focused on the living, whereas the bishops focused on the possibility of future fertilized eggs.

Rep Stupak called fertilized embryos an “occupant in a womb” on sunday afternoon.

Rarely was women’s health a subject of the Catholic men’s debate, which focused on again curtailing abortion beyond the Hyde Amendment for the 27% of abortions had each year by women who are Catholic. With Catholics representing 24% of Americans, we’re investigating the disproportionate number of Catholic women who get abortions.

Read on: How the Bishops Lost, Even as Their Cause Prevailed via Politics Daily

Catholic healthcare scoreboard: Nuns and Laity 2, bishops 0 Salon

Update on Mon, March 22, 2010 by Anne

Find post-win analysis articles on Nancy Pelosi in Women Rebels