So is this the end of America as we know it, and the dawn of a new socialist dark ages?

God, if only.  But it’s a nice step in the right direction.

(To my occasional readers who came here by way of Dr. Landsburg and/or Dr. Kling: believe it or not, I’d be equally happy with a bill that simply outlawed health insurance entirely in much the same way that Ponzi schemes are illegal.  But I go to war with the armies I have, and the status quo was the worst of all possible options. Onward and upward.)