The Senate reached an important milestone by passing its version of health care reform this morning before its members went home for Christmas. It's not the "real deal" yet, since the different features of the House and Senate versions remain to be reconciled, but the broad outlines of what might result are now pretty clear.
Could "reform" still unravel? Might Republican efforts to strangle the baby in its crib yet succeed, or could it prove impossible for committees to reconcile the two versions of the bill into something enough Democrats can accept?
I'm optimistic that Congress will pass a joint bill in the new year. It will be a typical product of reconciliation, certainly. Neither beautiful nor elegant, it won't provide every feature that its most extreme advocates would like, nor by definition will it give the opposition what they want (which is no bill at all). It will have unintended consequences that might need patching in future years. It won't control costs sufficiently, but it may offer enough room for experimentation in different cost-control approaches (by different states and local networks) that would point the way to the most practical, workable models.
Meanwhile, it will provide significant improvements in the basic fairness of our health care system, and that, for now, is good and sufficient cause for holiday rejoicing.
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