The hope of health reformers, myself included, is that putting the Affordable Care Act into place will resemble the end of "It's a Wonderful Life." After a bumpy transition, everything will be just as it was but better. Zuzu's petals will be in our pockets, and the whole neighborhood will have shown up to help those in need. This happy ending would be virtually guaranteed if Congress had passed the law Democrats originally introduced. The wild political process that created the law, though, led to the weakening of the supports that help keep the current system in place.
