Health and Human Services

Updated March 21, 2009

The House just passed the Senate health care bill by a vote of 219 - 212.

Echoing Sen. Jim DeMint's characterization of health care as Obama's "Waterloo," former Bush speech writer David Frum labels the passage of health care legislation today the "most crushing legislative defeat since the 1960s" for conservatives and Republicans.

Frum lays the blame for the defeat squarely on Republican party leadership:

At the beginning of this process we made a strategic decision: unlike, say, Democrats in 2001 when President Bush proposed his first tax cut, we would make no deal with the administration. No negotiations, no compromise, nothing. We were going for all the marbles. This would be Obama’s Waterloo – just as healthcare was Clinton’s in 1994.

Only, the hardliners overlooked a few key facts: Obama was elected with 53% of the vote, not Clinton’s 42%. The liberal block within the Democratic congressional caucus is bigger and stronger than it was in 1993-94. And of course the Democrats also remember their history, and also remember the consequences of their 1994 failure.

This time, when we went for all the marbles, we ended with none.

He also reserves a share of blame for what he calls "the conservative entertainment industry."

... overheated talk has made it impossible for representatives to represent and elected leaders to lead. The real leaders are on TV and radio, and they have very different imperatives from people in government. Talk radio thrives on confrontation and recrimination. When Rush Limbaugh said that he wanted President Obama to fail, he was intelligently explaining his own interests. What he omitted to say – but what is equally true – is that he also wants Republicans to fail. If Republicans succeed – if they govern successfully in office and negotiate attractive compromises out of office – Rush’s listeners get less angry. And if they are less angry, they listen to the radio less, and hear fewer ads for Sleepnumber beds.

Read the full commentary.

The January Kaiser Health Tracking poll finds that a majority of the public still supports the idea that "it is more important than ever to take on health reform now." The poll further finds that while Americans are divided over Congressional health care proposals, even skeptics grow more supportive when they learn specific details of the proposals, such as:

• Tax credits for small businesses
• Health insurance exchanges
• Insurers prevented from denying coverage on pre-existing conditions

http://kff.org/kaiserpolls/8042.cfm

From the New York Times:

Handing President Obama a hard-fought victory, the House narrowly approved a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s health care system on Saturday night, advancing legislation that Democrats said could stand as their defining social policy achievement.

After a daylong clash with Republicans over what has been a Democratic goal for decades, lawmakers voted 220 to 215 to approve a plan that would cost $1.1 trillion over 10 years. Democrats said the legislation would provide overdue relief to Americans struggling to buy or hold on to health insurance.

"This is our moment to revolutionize health care in this country,”" said Representative George Miller, Democrat of California and one of the chief architects of the bill.