Late Thursday the Associated Press reported that “House Democratic leaders have abandoned a long struggle to appease the most ardent abortion opponents in their ranks, gambling that they can secure the support for President Barack Obama's sweeping health care legislation with showdown votes looming next week.

“In doing so, they are all but counting out a small but potentially decisive group whose views on abortion coverage have become the principal hang-up for Democrats fighting to achieve the biggest change in American health care in generations.”

Meanwhile Thursday evening Igor Volsky reported: “Stupak’s Abortion Gang Falling Apart as Pro-Life Members Admit Senate Bill Won’t Fund Abortions.”  

This is, I think, a final turning point in the fight for health care reform. And Pelosi is doing what I thought she would do. I couldn’t imagine that the first woman to become House Speaker would let a relatively small group of people who oppose “a woman’s right to choose” bury health care reform.

Granted, many Americans have misgivings about abortion. When faced with the choice, many women wouldn’t choose abortion for themselves. But the majority of Americans believe that women should have a choice, and they don’t feel that the government–or Bart Stupak– should make that decision for them

How rich is this?

Over at “Think Progress,” Igor Volksy reports that, while speaking to a crowd in Calgary, Canada last weekend Sarah Palin revealed a tidbit about her life growing up not far from Whitehorse:

“We used to hustle over the border for health care we received in Canada,” she said. “And I think now, isn't that ironic?”  

Isn’t it?  (I can imagine Palin, tilting her head  slightly to one side, gazing into thin air, and referring to something that she will never understand: irony. )

As Volsky points out, this admission doesn't exactly square with Palin's stand on health care. She has warned us all that U.S. health-care reform will lead to “socialism” and that Canada needs to reform its health care system to “let the private sector take over.”

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Let’s put to rest, once and for all, the idea–or rather, the  notion
(it’s not even an idea,  just a vague impression, based on
hearsay)–that the health reform legislation now under discussion
includes no plans for containing health care spending.  

The
reform proposal now being debated in Washington would put a brake on
health care inflation. As an eye-opening essay in the most recent
(March 4) issue of the New England Journal of Medicine explains, Medicare
would, at last, have the power it needs to lead the way,  not by cutting
benefits, but by restructuring how it does business.

Meanwhile,
pundits such as Peggy Noonan feel free to pronounce health care
reform “a disaster” and “a colossal waste of time”without giving any
indication that she has ever read the legislation. Presumably Noonan
bases  the opinions that she expresses in her recent Wall Street
Journal Op-ed on  what other pundits have said.

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Below, an excerpt from yesterday’s Philadelphia Inquirer (March 3, 2010)

I’m not writing a post about this story because the piece speaks for itself. It reveals much about this nation’s healthcare priorities. Also, beware of for-profit“Wellness” programs. Good health is, of course, an admirable goal. But staying well doesn’t have to be this expensive.

But I am bold-facing a few of the high-points or the story and in two or three places, you’ll find my comment in red.

Thanks to HealthBeat reader Dr. Brad F. for calling my attention to this story.  (He dared me to read it. Brad likes to visualize me literally hitting the ceiling. )

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I remain all but certain that comprehensive healthcare reform legislation will pass this spring. The New York Times isn’t sure, but Nancy Pelosi is. My money is on Pelosi. “Every legislative vote is a heavy lift around here,” she told reporters earlier today. “You assume nothing."  But she added, "We will pass a bill."  I agree. The process will be ugly, but they will get it done.

Unless the president and Pelosi have signed a secret political suicide pact, they wouldn’t be doing this unless they were quite sure they could pull it off.

Most of the press is more skeptical than I am. But I’ve been a journalist long enough to know that you don't sell many newspapers with a headline that reads: “Game Over.”  Uncertainty is far more interesting; the media will do its best to keep the suspense alive to the very end.  

That's fine. Americans should be paying attention to this process. And those who want reform should contact their representatives.  But don't let the coverage rattle you.

Some readers have suggested that I "Twitter.'

So I'm trying it. Under "maggiemahar." First Twitters were from the blog. Now I'm branching out.

Advice welcomed.

This afternoon, President Obama spoke with the confidence and determination of a leader who knows that he is right—and that he has won.

He is no longer pleading for bi-partisan co-operation. His final proposal includes all Republican suggestions that reformers find useful. The president realizes that some will not agree with his plan. As he said at the end of the Summit, “That’s why we have elections.” Those who disagree can make their beliefs known at the polls.

In the meantime, President Obama is saying: “this is my proposal.”  He would not speak with such authority unless he was quite certain that the Democrats have the votes to pass this legislation.

You will find my comments, in red, interspersed throughout the speech.

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