It looks like Senator Ben Nelson, the last Democrat holding up the health care bill, has been bribed into supporting it. It isn't over yet, but things are not looking good. When health care reform was first proposed, I thought it was likely that something would pass, given the strong Democratic majority and President Obama's popularity. But as it languished in the Senate, I began to hope that it might be killed. Unfortunately, it looks like that hope has now been extinguished. Democrats have been determined to ram this massive expansion of government through, despite zero Republican support, and its unpopularity with the public.
As everyone is aware, the health reform bill is a gigantic piece of legislation. I'm not sure anyone knows all the details. In a bill so large there are no doubt some good ideas that represent genuine reform. But what we do know for sure is that this bill is an attack on free market principles, a huge expansion of government power over private industry, and another government encroachment on personal freedom. Forcing insurance companies to ignore risk in who they insure turns their business model upside down. It is an attempt to replace basic market rules about how insurance works, with a government fiat. And forcing individuals to buy insurance, whether they want to or not, is a direct attack on individual liberty, and yet another expansion of the nanny state. Let's hope all the independents and even Republicans who voted in a Democratic president with a Democratic Congressional majority are happy with these results.
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