November 16, 2009 
I think it’s pretty clear that there are a few different camps here. Hearing Rahm Emanual (Obama’s chief of staff) say that the goal is to pass a bill thru Congress not figure out what the ideal bill might look like is certainly one perspective. (NYTimes, 11/11/09, Falling Far Short Of Reform) There are many camps trying to find the ideal solution. Other people are looking at it from a budget perspective. Others from a moral perspective of the need to cover the uninsured. Others from a business perspective.
Can these all be reconciled? No. Not and get anything done.
Everyone agrees the current system is a problem. Can’t someone prioritize the issues and focus us on being successful with one goal at a time and not trying to put pieces that appeal to everyone into one bill that therefore meets the needs of no one. The goal should never be just to pass a bill to meet some artificial deadline set by a candidate to impress the people. The mess after the fact will be too difficult to change.
The current health care reform proposals are too big and open to the risk of unintended consequences. We know that the government’s record of coming under budget could fit on a piece of paper designed to go into a fortune cookie.