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Health care: Winners and losers - The Week
Winners
Barack Obama: Not only did passing health care reform potentially save his presidency, says Matthew Yglesias in Think Progress, but Obama's progressive reshaping of policy also puts him "down in history as one of America's finest presidents." Like Ronald Reagan, this political "resurrection" of Obama shows that he can "come back and fight," says Andrew Sullivan in The Times of London, which people admire even if they don't agree with what he's fighting for. Passing health care does make Obama "one of the most consequential presidents in history," says Mark Steyn in National Review, but America will pay a high price for his victory, and so will he.
Nancy Pelosi: The House Speaker's skillful rounding up of votes shows she's "the best Democratic parliamentary manager since Sam Rayburn," says Richard Adams in The Guardian. "Pelosi should probably be Time's Person of the Year for getting this done," agrees Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight. It's all well and good to "admire Nancy Pelosi's skill as a legislator" now, says Megan McArdle in The Atlantic, but she won't look so brilliant when the GOP retakes the House and similarly pushes through bills voters don't like: "Farewell, social security! Au revoir, Medicare!"
Bart Stupak: The pro-life Democrat was the "vital" vote for health care reform, says The Guardian's Richard Adams, with the last-minute executive order he forced out of Obama paving the way for a bloc of holdouts to vote "yes." By the time the final votes were cast, says Andrea Seabrook at NPR, "Stupak had gone from a virtual pariah among House Democrats to their health care hero." If he's a hero, he's of the Hollywood variety, says Michael van der Galien in PoliGazette. His opposition to the bill was always a "sham" as is the whole idea of a pro-life Democrat.
The uninsured: The law will add an estimated 32 million to the ranks of the insured. The big change in the bill is that it moves America toward a system in which "people can assume they will have health coverage IF they are old enough (Medicare), poor enough (Medicaid), fortunate enough," or in some other special category, says James Fallows in The Atlantic, to one where they can assume they'll have coverage, "period."
Drug companies: Brand-name drugmakers "signed on early to work with [the bill] instead of blocking it," says the New York Daily News. And in return, they get millions of new insured people able to buy their medicines
Winners
Barack Obama: Not only did passing health care reform potentially save his presidency, says Matthew Yglesias in Think Progress, but Obama's progressive reshaping of policy also puts him "down in history as one of America's finest presidents." Like Ronald Reagan, this political "resurrection" of Obama shows that he can "come back and fight," says Andrew Sullivan in The Times of London, which people admire even if they don't agree with what he's fighting for. Passing health care does make Obama "one of the most consequential presidents in history," says Mark Steyn in National Review, but America will pay a high price for his victory, and so will he.
Nancy Pelosi: The House Speaker's skillful rounding up of votes shows she's "the best Democratic parliamentary manager since Sam Rayburn," says Richard Adams in The Guardian. "Pelosi should probably be Time's Person of the Year for getting this done," agrees Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight. It's all well and good to "admire Nancy Pelosi's skill as a legislator" now, says Megan McArdle in The Atlantic, but she won't look so brilliant when the GOP retakes the House and similarly pushes through bills voters don't like: "Farewell, social security! Au revoir, Medicare!"
Bart Stupak: The pro-life Democrat was the "vital" vote for health care reform, says The Guardian's Richard Adams, with the last-minute executive order he forced out of Obama paving the way for a bloc of holdouts to vote "yes." By the time the final votes were cast, says Andrea Seabrook at NPR, "Stupak had gone from a virtual pariah among House Democrats to their health care hero." If he's a hero, he's of the Hollywood variety, says Michael van der Galien in PoliGazette. His opposition to the bill was always a "sham" as is the whole idea of a pro-life Democrat.
The uninsured: The law will add an estimated 32 million to the ranks of the insured. The big change in the bill is that it moves America toward a system in which "people can assume they will have health coverage IF they are old enough (Medicare), poor enough (Medicaid), fortunate enough," or in some other special category, says James Fallows in The Atlantic, to one where they can assume they'll have coverage, "period."
Drug companies: Brand-name drugmakers "signed on early to work with [the bill] instead of blocking it," says the New York Daily News. And in return, they get millions of new insured people able to buy their medicines