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You are about to see a major red-blue fissure open up in PA over health care.

The State Democratic Committee passed a resolution a few weeks back calling for the implementaiton of Single Payer on a state level. Don’t look for them to support any anti-Obamacare measures.

Also consider that health care (and specifically health insurance companies) are major employers in PA, and the stage is set for a dandy brawl.

You've got that right! Over my lifetime, Pennsylvania is the 10th state ub which I have lived. Nowhere have I seen the sheer volume of television advertising both from insurance companies (UPMC, HiMark-Blue Cross, HealthAmerica and others) as well as special interests such as rehab centers who want to keep their mandates.

Thus, every policy written in this state has to cover winos and druggies, even company policies for places like where I work which require passing a drug test as a condition of employment.

I would be willing to bet premiums would drop around 40% if the huge Pennsylvania market was opened up to competition without the larded up mandates.

With the large Amish population in this state, I've also got to wonder how they are going to enforce forcing people to buy health insurance without some major backlash.

"You are about to see a major red-blue fissure open up in PA over health care."

We had an interesting conversation with our kids over dinner tonight. We live in a pretty liberal area of Montgomery County (suburban Philadelphia). We have a population which tends to be upper middle class and professional, with many liberal Catholics and Jews. Our 14 year old told us that he was surprised to hear that his high school classmates were not only aware of the health care vote, but unhappy about it in large numbers. This is really good news in my book. It tells me that their parents are waking up and talking about it in negative terms. Some of the students may also be figuring out that their generation is getting a raw deal.

I had another conversation yesterday with a Catholic friend who described the homily at her church on Sunday. The priest talked about the health care debate and pointed out that by funding abortion, we are in effect encouraging women to sin and to harm their own well being, that of their unborn children, and to put their eternal souls at risk. The congregation was split. Some applauded the homily and others sat silent. I'm encouraged that the young priest raised the moral issues, and even more encouraged that he was publicly applauded for it. If things can begin to turn around in our community, much is possible in this battle we face.