"It's Safe To Come To America"
Such a headline might be premature - the US House of Representatives' passage of the Senate Health Care Reform bill is only hours old, and even after the President's signature, will require time for implementation. In the meantime, foreigners traveling to the US will still need to check the fine print of their insurance policies, many of which exclude the US, given its costly and byzantine health care system.
Byzantium just got updated, though it's not over 'til it's over. Meaning that even though this reform represents historic progress, much more needs to be done to make affordable health care available to all. The training of new doctors and nurses. The reform of tort laws and accompanying stratospheric malpractice insurance. Instituting a culture of preventive medicine and prophylactic public health.
Fixated as Americans were on the outcome of yesterday's vote, they may have missed the fact that foreigners were too, especially foreign leaders. It went beyond European incomprehension at American reluctance to join the club of civilized health care providing nations. Had the President not succeeded with his own party, on the key domestic proposal of his first term, what would happen to US leadership abroad? That breeze you feel coming off the Atlantic is a huge sigh of relief.
We were on the road all day Sunday, driving through France back to Belgium, and the BBC provided regular real time updates on the state of the vote. French commentators noted that Benyamin Netanyahu, who treated Vice President Biden with barely concealed contempt as little as a week ago, will be meeting a President Obama newly invigorated by his domestic victory.
The Obama Way should be especially instructive for the Israeli Prime Minister. The President focused on a major problem, persevered when pundits said the patient was dead, and pulled off a reform that is being compared with the major progressive initiatives (Social Security, Medicare) of the last century. Now that he'll be more free to zero in on the Middle East, the moribund peace process between Israelis and Palestinians will likely be tops among his major international priorities.
Important as the health care vote is, it is a reminder that nothing comes easily, and that the Democrats can count on no Republican support. The sole priority for Republicans appears to block what they can, and that includes necessary reforms of America's casino financial system.
At least now those ads promoting travel to the US (which did get bipartisan support) can include some very good news on the health front.