After a year of doom-and-gloom talk about death panels and, as late as Sunday, that "Armageddon" is coming, Democrats in Congress passed health insurance reform to send to President Barack Obama.
The legislation is far from perfect. We would have liked to see a consortium or public option that would rev up competition among insurers.
But for all the complaints by Republican congressional leaders that they were locked out of reform negotiations, the legislation contains many of the elements that GOP leaders sought over the years. Among them: ending insurers' practice of denying coverage to patients with pre-existing conditions or imposing lifetime limits on coverage.
Like anything in Washington, the new system will have kinks to be worked out. That's after legal battles are resolved.
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