First, Stop Doing Harm

"I can't see it," Olympia Snowe said after considering the Medicare buy-in proposal for a day or two. "I am talking to a lot of my providers this afternoon and I know they are mighty unhappy."

"My providers." Think about that for a second. As a smart friend noted, imagine if she had said "my insurers." But then, no one would ever say "my insurers." Insurers, we understand, are the bad guys. Providers are the good guys. They're the doctors and the hospitals and the people who see you when you're sick and scared and need help. They're the people who treat the insured and the uninsured alike, who do amazing things and save countless lives and, to be sure, make a lot of money for their trouble...