>>> Like him or dislike him, no one can say any longer that Obama can't get things done...He is a game changer.
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>Stalin was a game changer too.
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>Seriously, making health care a right sure tugs at the heartstrings.
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>Too bad it does nothing to control costs and everything to encourage consumption.
>How do you think that equation will end up?

I don't agree that is the equation. The main effort to control costs, a new plan to compete with private insurers, was shot down. (By conservatives, I mention only in passing).

Whether this will encourage more consumption, I don't know. One of the reasons health care costs have so greatly outdistanced other costs of living is the whole system is "fees for service." It gives the medical industry every incentive to provide services that are expensive and often unnecessary. I am not putting all the blame on the industry, but this is definitely part of the problem. Some clinics around the country, the highly regarded Cleveland Clinic among them, have had encouraging success with a program which emphasizes overall health rather than procedures performed.