The reality is that the debate that led to this bill did not really take place across congressional committees and floor speeches. It took place in think tanks and campaigns. In policy forums and among experts. The basic shape of the House's bill is virtually identical to the bills we saw during the campaign, and they were all expressions of the ideas being developed and refined in think tanks and policy shops and advocacy groups ever since Clinton's effort failed.
When people complain about Congress "rushing" health insurance reform, or refusing to "debate" it in substantive ways, they fail to acknowledge that there are many academics, economists, policy wonks, and government staffers who have spent huge chunks of their lives working on - and debating - this issue. The problems have been indentified. Solutions have been modeled. This bill will bring significant changes to the health insurance system in this country. It will affect who wins and who loses. But a grand, mysterious, and wild experiment it is not.
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