Editorial: Universal health care abandoned

Democrats are celebrating their first major legislative victory, Pyrrhic or otherwise, in a long time. But when the confetti settles, U.S. citizens will be no closer to universal access to health care.

Barack Obama took office with a promise to “sign a universal health care plan into law by the end of my first term in office.”

Unless the president has a plan to mend the bruised feelings on the other side of the aisle, it seems unlikely that he will be able to make good on this lofty goal.

The failure of the Democrats to secure anything remotely resembling universal health care is only slightly mitigated by the portions of the bill that eliminate loss of coverage for pre-existing conditions and extend youth access to their parents insurance until age 26.

The Democrats are screaming “victory,” the Republicans are screaming “socialism” and the rest of the country is left scratching their heads trying to figure out the implications of more than two-thousand pages of dense legalese.

Some important questions remain unanswered. Like how does a bill that started as a move towards universal coverage for all U.S. citizens turn into mandating that more than 30 million people purchase health insurance from private companies, bolstering their profits?

One thing is certain: the once hopeful prospects of the Obama administration’s push for universal health care have all but evaporated.

Unless those “hopes” were just for show.