Sunday catch-up

by digby

Here are some good reads and analysis on the health care decision. The first, by Robert Frank, gives an excellent analysis of why the reforms happened the way they did. He explains the history of the employer based health care system and emphasizes the fact that because it is what already covers the majority of the population, there was just no feasible way to up-end it — it had to be built upon.

I have to agree that this was the most daunting obstacle to any kind of single payer. Too many people had health care they liked (or, at least, thought they liked.) Telling people to give something up so that other people could benefit (including themselves if they lost their jobs) is a heavy lift — especially for Americans who really don’t like the idea of helping other people. (If people need help and you don’t, it proves they don’t deserve it as much as you do, right?)

Anyway, it’s a good piece. It makes the important case that the success of this conservative, contraption depends upon how it evolves from this point. There are ways to make it better — maybe even evolve into a truly affordable universal program. I hope the health care policy wonks who care about universality and security aren’t just resting on their laurels and assuming this thing will work perfectly.

Another good read today is this analysis of the Supreme Court decision which shows what a petulant bunch of jackasses the conservative wing is. They had Roberts in the bag and when he changed his mind, they held their breath until they turned blue.

It doesn’t say why Roberts changed his mind, but implies that he was reading all the stuff about the court losing legitimacy in the press. I’m not sure that we’ll ever know what it really was.

Finally, this segment by Chris Hayes on Roberts adhering to norms:

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