The House Bill is a corporate-corrupted pile of crap that will not solve the problem

[Zodiak]

That is just the state of things. We all knew exactly the kind of legislation that would come out of this Congress, and so it should come to no surprise to us that the bills in the House and Senate have provisions (3 year delay, patent protection, age discrimination, etc.) that work to protect corporate profits before the American People. Everything this Congress has done for many, many years has been pretty much in line with this overarching favoritism towards Wall Street.

However, when the battlefields are surveyed, we did pretty well considering we were at a horrible tactical disadvantage. After all, single payer came off of the table immediately....not because of its impracticality, but because its removal guarantees that the outcome of the health care debate heavily favored private insurance. What's more, we have been up against a gigantic disinformation campaign all summer, an entrenched and belligerent Republican party, a corporate media that promulgates Republican talking points, and a bevvy of Conservadems whose top priority is scuttling any progressive legislation their party may produce.

....in the end, we got a middling to weak public option and a few provisions that will cover a few extra Americans slowly over time.

But seriously, it could have been many times worse....and it looked to be many times worse at many points along the way.

I am definitely not happy with the bills as they are, but I have to say that strategically this is the time to get behind these Bills and get them passed. They suck, but they suck ever so slightly less than the status quo. This will accomplish a few things: 1) There will be people who are helped by this bill, and lives will be saved. 2) This will score a political victory for the Dems and show the American people that, unlike the Republicans, the Dems are capable of effecting some change, however incremental 3) This bill will create strong political will to effect more change because cost control will become the number one issue and lastly 4) Forcing the bill through the entire process will expose the corrupt politicians for what they are...ultimately they have to vote one way or another, and we will be there to keep score.

This is the way forward, I believe. We should always be mindful and vocal about the flaws in this bill, but we MUST support it as it goes through the process. Against all odds, a public option of some kind is in both houses.....even cynical me could not have predicted that.