A lot of my correspondents on the left seem to think that I am trying to set up some sort of a gotcha–to make this into a “contest”. Or that making predictions is just “sour grapes”.

That seems like a more apt description of people who just induced us to pass a bill that will ultimately cost more than $200 billion a year–the fifth or sixth largest line item in the US budget. During that debate I heard a lot about the 20-45,000 people who were dying from lack of insurance every year. I heard about how US mortality indicators lagged behind the rest of the developed world. I heard about infant mortality. I heard, over and over again, about medical bankruptcies, and how medical bills were bankrupting America. I heard about the CBO score that said this bill would be deficit neutral. Let me know if I’ve missed anything, but it seems to me that mortality, financial protection, and deficit-improvement were the three major planks upon which this bill was sold. They are certainly the bulk of the anecdotes that fill heart-rending articles and presidential speeches…

However “imperfect” this bill is, you got what you wanted: virtually all the uninsured are covered, and those who aren’t covered probably aren’t particularly unhealthy. So now you should be willing to state that all the marvelous things you claimed would come to pass, will actually come to pass.