Dr Marcia Angell

The House Health bill just throws good money after the bad. And because costs will keep rising, there is now a danger that people will conclude reform is impossible, when in reality, we still haven't really tried.

The Baucus bill makes it clear that the fix is in. We're now going to pour more money into a system that's already shown it can absorb whatever we put into it without providing anything like commensurate health care.

It's not just the right-wing crazies who oppose health reform. In addition, there are many sane Americans who worry about committing a trillion dollars to it. They have a point.

By marginalizing the single-payer model from the outset, Democrats have already backed away from making the best case for health care reform as means to economic recovery.