Even those who are familiar with the ~2,000 page bill in its entirety can't predict the long term impact of the bill accurately.
While I agree that Healthcare reform is necessary and our system needs fixing, I do not agree with the methods in which our Congress, both sides, approached the issue.
There were lots of good provisions in the healthcare bill that I agree with. But there are just as many questionable ones that I oppose on ideological grounds. There were many ideas for improving healthcare in this country that both Democrats and Republicans agreed upon, but it befuddles me why our Congress is so damn adamant on not taking an incremental approach to shaping legislation. They just couldn't pass a bill that had the undisputed solutions to improving healthcare everyone agreed on, and then work towards building upon that framework. The Republicans are idiots, the Democrats are idiots.
If software was produced anything like the way Congress produces legislation, this world would be in chaos.
I don't think an incremental solution is practical since it would take so much damn time and energy to implement each of these "incremental bills". If we were to do it in small steps, the resistance would mount with each small step taken. Doing it in one big step means we only have to go through this ordeal once.
Also, I don't think there are any "incremental solutions" that would not produce a lot of dispute and resistance. The radical republicans will always vote against health care reform to keep their seats.
While you may be correct that in such incremental solutions, one controversial part of the legislation would simply replace another and result in resistance and ordeal with the only difference being one issue replacing another... I do think that there are many parts of the bill that would largely have bipartisan support had they all been grouped together with the most controversial issues left out... and would not have received as much resistance AND could be passed via traditional, less shady, means (i.e. not through the process of Reconciliation).
You do realize though, that the reason this bill passed is because Democrats did eventually, at least partially, take the "incremental solution" approach I advocate? This bill is just a bigger, less granular "incremental solution" to the bigger solution that the hardcore liberals want -> single payer system. It was a compromise within their own party, but a compromise nonetheless. I just wish they had taken the high road and gone more granular, and if they had, and the Republicans still behave as the party of "No" I think they would have garnered even more support from independents. There are benefits in the bill that will be enacted this year, immediately, and had the Democrats not wasted so much effort trying to pass a bill with a government option for almost a year, we could have reaped such benefits like the ability to keep dependents on their plan up to 26 y/o sooner I think.
Don't get me wrong, the Republicans get my disdain even more, they had 8 years to pass bipartisan healthcare reform and even smaller solutions to health care reform that may be less drastic but still improve our costly system. Ironically, the Republicans used a healthcare bill with a government mandate to counter Hillarycare back in 1994. My disdain is bipartisan.
Only time will tell.
