Megan McArdle: View on the Current Health Care Situation

As of now the health care issue and it resolve seems to be up in the air. Many people believe that Ms. Pelosi has the votes in the bag and that the bill will indeed pass. The controversy between the Democrats and the Republicans is still heated however. If the bill does pass, as many people it will, the Democrats will be satisfied but the Republicans will "go into the meltdown mode" (Megan McArdle).

Ms. McArdle's point is that she also does not know where the chips will fall in the health care matter and that if the bill is passed hell will break loose on the Republicans side of the Senate. She does however have an interesting take on what will happen if the bill does pass.

Assume this passes; what happens afterward? I don't think that many people believe that the answer is "Nothing: the bill becomes law, and we sing happy smurf songs all the way to the longest life expectancy in the Western world!" Even the bill's proponents expect it will need some follow-up work. But what will that follow-up work look like?

Although I, personally, hope the health care bill passes for personal reasons, Ms. McArdle does prove a valid point. What will happen in the long-term sense if the bill passes? Yes, it will immediately help those in need of health care, but the long-term effects seem to be ominously unknown.