Americans Split on Health Care Priorities: Poll

Dems should be ashamed of bill, but pass the damn thing

(NEWSER) - The Democrats should hurry up and pass their sorry excuse for a health bill, but they should stop calling it "health care reform," writes Michael Moore. The president and Democratic leaders should apologize to the American people for coming up with a bill that leaves 12 million people still uninsured and leaves the "greedy, private insurance industry" in charge of the plan, Moore writes in the Daily Beast. More»

Don't be taken in by misinformation, warns Paul Krugman

(NEWSER) - Health care reform has made a miraculous comeback but its opponents are going to try to hoodwink the public with misinformation and lies down the home stretch, writes Paul Krugman. He outlines "three big myths" about reform in the New York Times .

• "The government is grabbing control of a sixth of the economy." Private insurance—mostly regulated, subsidized employee plans—only makes up a third of health spending. The only extra place the government is intervening now is the "disastrous" market in which people buy their own plans, he notes.

Both sides have vocal opponents, could halt bill without compromise

(NEWSER) - With a last-second concession barring federal dollars from funding abortions, Nancy Pelosi largely skirted the full brunt of the issue, but Harry Reid may not be so lucky. The Senate majority leader likely won't get the 60 votes he needs without similar language— which a Planned Parenthood VP calls a “middle-class abortion ban”—but pro-choice lawmakers could also stall a too-restrictive bill, Politico reports. More»

'The health of each of us depends on the health of the rest of us'

(NEWSER) - The Democrats are in danger of losing the health care reform battle over an argument "that a novice debater would have no trouble putting down," writes Thomas Frank for the Wall Street Journal. Reformers need to directly address the role of government in health care, Frank writes, and demolish the myth that "health insurance is a form of property, a matter of pure personal responsibility" earned by the hard work of individuals, and that those who don't have it "chose a toxic life of fast food and fast morals." More»

(NEWSER) - Everybody's thinking small on health care reform, writes David Goldhill in the Atlantic. Our system is so abysmal—the headline on his lengthy piece is "How American Health Care Killed My Father"—that it needs a radical restructuring, and that should start with insurance. Let's just stop buying it, or all but. Everyone should be required to have catastrophic insurance to cover bills above, say, $50,000. For everything else, the system should be pay-as-you-go. More»