The nation’s Capitol seems gripped in the absurd.  The Congressional majorities in each house are hell-bent to take away health insurance from millions of Americans.  Despite promising to make health care better and more affordable, the President and the Republican majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives seemingly cannot rest until they have torn away health insurance coverage from low and moderate income citizens.  An effort, by the way, that would lead to misery, financial insecurity and a much greater risk of serious illness and early deaths for those without coverage.

The latest effort came in the Senate, which has spent weeks secretly scheming how to take away health insurance. Their plan, which came after House Republicans voted to take away health insurance from over 20 million Americans, has been to twist the rules of the Senate to make it easier to get a majority vote to take away coverage.

The twist is called “budget reconciliation.” Under that process, the Senate only needs a majority of its members (or just half with the Vice President casting the tie-breaker) to approve a proposal.  Under the Senate’s normal rules, in order to prevent a filibuster, 60 Senators need to agree.  Republicans control the Senate with a slim majority of 52 senators, and on most legislation, Democrats can force a 60-vote threshold, making it difficult, if not impossible, for Republican leaders to pass a bill with only partisan appeal.  Budget reconciliation allows the Republican majority to avoid a filibuster.

When Congress chooses to use the reconciliation process, a special set of procedures must be followed.  Without getting into the details too much, the process places strict limits on what can be included in a reconciliation bill in the Senate — unless 60 senators vote to agree to override those limits. With just 52 GOP senators and virtually no hope of attracting Democratic support on their effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Republicans had to comply with limits on the reconciliation process.

In the end, the Senate Republican leadership cobbled together an eight-page “skinny bill” to advance. They knew that the bill would not become law, but they knew that if something passed the Senate, they could go to negotiations with the House – which has already passed a bill to strip health insurance from millions of Americans – and come up with a final deal more like the House version.

The final product, no doubt, would have taken away health insurance from millions of Americans.  The only thing unclear would be how many millions.

But the Senate strategy failed.  After initially getting 50 Senators to vote in support of moving ahead with a floor vote, adding a 51^st tie-breaking vote from the Vice President, the eight-page “skinny bill” was voted down when three Republican Senators (Collins of Maine, McCain of Arizona and Murkowski from Alaska) decided to vote no.  Their three votes, added to the 48 Democratic Senators in opposition, killed the proposal.  At least for now.

That’s not to say that the current system is perfect, far from it.  A combination of a cumbersome structure coupled with years of unceasing opposition to any positive changes have resulted in a health insurance system that does not provide universal coverage and is financially weakened.  That system does need to be strengthened.

Improved, not repealed.

Ironically, last week offered a relevant historical milestone.  It was 52 years ago that the Senate passed legislation creating Medicare and Medicaid, which guaranteed health insurance coverage for those over 65 years old, people with disabilities and those who are too poor to afford coverage.

And that is what government is supposed to do – solve problems, not create them.  Until the 1960s, it was virtually impossible for older Americans to get health insurance.  So, the government created a program – Medicare – to ensure that older Americans were covered.

In today’s America, the political elite seem to view solving problems as the problem.  The fight over health care is just one example.