It has covered a debate about passing health care reform legislation rather than a debate about health care reform. The problems and issues that have driven the debate this far are still with us. Working people still can't afford the ever-increasing insurance premiums. Sick people are still excluded from the insurance system. Old people must impoverish themselves before receiving long-term care.
Workers still lose their coverage when they change jobs.
No one has come up with an effective way to control the costs and use of exploding medical technology. Cost-shifting from government health care programs to the private sector continues unabated. So far, neither the press nor the Clintons have built a consensus for reform among the people who will have to use whatever system Washington rebuilds. How well the press will rise to the challenge of focusing on the issues and not on the battles among interest groups is an open question. Some reporters understand the mission.