Professor John E. McDonough, of the Harvard School of Public Health is interviewed on Medscape, a news site for health professionals. He warns that if politics derails the Affordable Care Act we will be back to square one…

Medscape: Why is this legislation a win for physicians and patients?

Dr. McDonough: This law is already providing real meaningful benefits to millions of Americans in improving health security, and it will make profound lifesaving differences for many millions of other Americans in the coming years. If it had been overturned completely, it would have been many years before we could return to and address our badly dysfunctional healthcare system. This ruling keeps reform on track; it allows for improvement moving forward.

Read the rest here, it’s brief but says a lot.

That’s the vibe I picked up at the Dept of Health. Improving quality, extending health care to all Rhode Islanders, keeping costs down and combating waste and fraud are works in progress. To abandon this would be more than heartbreaking, it would be a crime.