Far from perfect, the Senate health care bill does move the ball forward. Perhaps not as much as hoped, but forward nonetheless. Via Jonathan Cohn comes some data from MIT economist Joseph Gruber measuring how families of varying means would fare with and without the reform offered by the Senate bill.
The table (click to enlarge) calculates premiums and out of pocket costs, with and without the reform, for five families with income ranging from $36K to $85K per year. Clearly progressive, those on the lower end of the income scale have a large chunk of risk removed by the legislation.
It's a significant improvement. But it's not good enough - surely a family of four with a before tax income of $36K a year wouldn't be able to easily absorb debt amounting to 17% (after taxes) without considering some drastic means, including bankruptcy.
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