Finally, the Cratchits Will Have Health Insurance

Paul Krugman, not always the president's biggest fan, finds something to celebrate this Christmas in the passage of health Care reform bills by the House and Senate: After 2014 Dickens' Tiny Tim will no longer be denied health care because his family can't afford it or an insurance company denies him coverage due to a pre-existing condition. In his New York Times column, Krugman dismisses the Scrooges who are naysaying the bills, dividing them into three categories:

• The crazy right, who inexplicably have moved from the fringes to the heart of the Republican Party.
• The Bah Humbug caucus, made up of fiscal scolds who ignore all evidence that it will actually reduce the deficit, showing that what really motivates them is “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, is receiving social insurance.”
• Disappointed progressives who don't accept the reality that a stronger bill could never have made it through the Senate, under current rules. It's not perfect, but it's a good start—one that Krugman would like to see launched earlier than 2014.

(More health care reform stories.)