Anyone who believes the health care reform bill passed in the U.S. House of Representatives will be the final word on reform should see the doctor. Depending on one's bias, the bill is a "good start" or "a disaster." Take your pick. It won't matter at this point.
The House bill goes to the Senate, where many of the House provisions are dead on arrival. The Senate has its own bills, which have sections the House won't accept. The process of harmonizing the several versions of reform will fall to a conference committee made up of key members of the House and Senate. Then a conference compromise bill goes back to both chambers for votes. ...
Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., has been in Congress long enough to understand the process. In a session last week with the Forum Editorial Board, he said he voted for the bill for a couple of reasons. First, the linkage of a public option to Medicare reimbursements was removed in favor of a negotiated reimbursement system. He said he would have voted "no" had the Medicare linkage remained in the bill because hospital administrators in North Dakota told him it would devastate rural hospitals. Pomeroy was responding to the real concerns of his constituents.
Second, he voted "yes" to move the process to the next step. He favors health care reform and knows it won't happen without legislative compromises. He said the House bill, while far from perfect, is the vehicle to cobble together final legislation that is acceptable to the nation. By any honest measure, that's a sensible strategy.
Pomeroy's political antagonists and opponents of health care reform of any kind have mounted a high-priced television ad campaign to discredit him because of his vote on the House bill. The ads make all sorts of claims that are close to out-and-out lies. The spots have been fact-checked and analyzed by at least two independent, credible organizations -- the Annenberg Public Policy Center and the Kaiser Family Foundation. ...
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That's the sort of misrepresentation to be expected in the health care debate, whether it comes from Republican foes of reform or the far-left megaphone of MoveOn.org. Don't take any of it as gospel. Instead, listen to what Pomeroy says about his "yes" vote. One need not agree with him to extend the courtesy of hearing him out, free of the cacophony of TV ad mistruths and half-truths.
The Forum
