Wow! Cabo, where in the world did you get the idea that my original post was a "blanket criticism of Obamacare". In the second paragraph of my opening post I say, ..."A couple things are for sure. Reform is necessary in order to bring down the cost of healthcare in this country and getting everyone insured. Whatever reforms are put in place should not add to the deficit or national debt."...

If given a choice, would I prefer Congress to put together a Rube Goldberg healthcare reform bill, or wait until next year and thoughtfully craft a piece of legislation that will work. I'll take "wait". If that's what you mean by "blanket criticism of Obamacare", I'm guilty. Congress has been considering then avoiding doing anything on healthcare for decades. We can wait another few months to do it right.

But I don't believe for a nanosecond that a thoughtful reform bill isn't needed. Quite to the contrary, significant reform is needed ASAP.

Notwithstanding the claims that there are other good alternatives out there, I am still a big doubter. There are lots of reform plans that have been published--the supposedly bi-partisan Dole-Daschle-Baker proposal http://www.bipartisanpolicy.org/ht/a...Action/i/10782 is one that I read today. Having earned a living as a consultant for a few years, the use of "consultantese" in this proposal was maddening. Maybe not as confusing as the "legalese" in HR 3200, but maddening in that it wasn't any more understandable.

What I mean by a good alternative is one that can be understood by the majority of Americans and whose costs and benefits are reasonably measurable.

By the way, even though Dole, Daschle and Baker made an attempt to make their plan look "bi-partisan", I am left with some doubts. Dole and Daschle fail to mention that are both full-time employees of one of Washington's biggest lobbying firms, and that their firm represents 31 major companies in the healthcare industry. And I'm supposed to believe that their counter-proposal is simply a compendium of their "good ideas"? Yeah, right.