Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has finally unveiled his own bill to further nationalize health care. It may be slightly better than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s. But that’s like saying it’s better to have leprosy than to get shot in the head. That might seem like an absurd analogy, but the entire discussion about health care reform passed the point of lurid fantasy long ago. Take the claim that Reid’s bill would cost nearly $900 billion but still reduce the deficit by $127 billion. Come again? That bit of nonsense reminds us of a salesman who once sold his goods at a loss, figuring that what he lost on profit margin, he could make up in volume.

WASHINGTON—Setting up a historic year-end debate, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid revealed his long-awaited version of legislation to reshape the nation’s health-care system last night, a measure designed to extend coverage to 94 percent of eligible Americans and bar private industry from denying insurance because of pre-existing medical conditions.

Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell worries that a national health-care overhaul that includes a public option would lead to diminished access to quality care and reduced choice for Virginians. For those reasons, among others, the Republican has said that if given the choice to opt the state out of such a plan—if it makes it through Congress—he would prefer to take a pass.

The count is finished, the total is in: Nancy Pelosi’s health care bill would create a whopping 111 new boards, commissions, bureaucracies, and programs. That’s not a typo. One hundred and eleven. They include everything from the Health Choices Administration—which would make your health choices for you—to the National Medical Device Registry. There would be a “No Child Left Unimmunized Against Influenza” program, and a Community Prevention Stakeholders Board—not to be confused, of course, with the Clinical Prevention Stakeholders Board, which should not be confused with the Prevention and Wellness Trust. (Though of course it would be.)

Congress is considering complex and controversial bills to change the American health care system. The opinions on both sides have been diverse and heartfelt, even heated at times.

Members of the Danville TEA Party reportedly plan to burn Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in effigy at a Nov. 21 rally. Last Saturday, Perriello was one of four Virginia Democrats who voted in favor of the $1.2 trillion health-care overhaul. Two Virginia Democrats and all five Republicans voted against the bill.

Each job Margaret G. Lewis has held during her 30-plus years in health care has felt like the best job she’s ever had, starting with one of her first jobs as a bedside nurse at Chippenham Hospital.

Here’s a dirty little secret about health care reform that Democrats in Washington would prefer you didn’t know: They’re counting on people to stay uninsured. The financing for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi includes $167 billion in penalty payments to the federal government. About $135 billion of that money would come from private employers who don’t offer insurance to their workers; those employers would have to pay a tax equal to 8 percent of payroll.

A couple of months ago, retired Editorial Page Editor Ross Mackenzie described AARP as “a hard-left lobby.“ The local rep for the national seniors’ group took exception. “If [Mackenzie] had done his homework he would have known that AARP has a long history of working with both parties whenever a piece of legislation is in the best interest of our members,“ wrote AARP’s Bill Kallio in a letter to the editor. He cited several pieces of legislation, principally “the creation of a new prescription drug benefit in Medicare that was pushed by President George W. Bush with strong Republican support.“

Virginia Gov-elect Bob McDonnell said this morning that he hasn’t read the entire health-care bill that narrowly passed the House of Representatives last night but that the “public option does not seem to be something that’s going to help us in Virginia.“ “I think there [are] legitimate issues of cost and access that have got to be addressed at the state and federal level,“ McDonnell told John King in a brief appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” this morning.

Quotations on Afghanistan and nationalizing the practice of medicine . . . Afghanistan Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan: “I believe that the loss of stability in Afghanistan brings huge risks that transnational terrorists such as al-Qaida will operate from within Afghanistan again.“ Retired Marine John Bernard, following the death in Afghanistan of his son, Marine Lance Corporal Joshua Bernard—on the U.S. mission there: “We’ve abandoned Marines [and soldiers by denying them artillery and air support for fear of killing civilians] in this Catch-22 where we’re supposed to defend the population, but we can’t defend them because we can’t engage the enemy that is supposed to be the problem.“

Two of the six Democrats in Virginia’s congressional delegation last night voted against President Barack Obama’s 10-year, $1.2 trillion health-care reform plan. Reps. Glenn Nye, D-2nd, and Rick Boucher, D-9th, were the only Virginia lawmakers to break ranks with their parties. Nye, who serves Hampton Roads, said in a statement that the bill does not sufficiently cut health-care costs that are harming families and small businesses.

Three of the six Democrats in Virginia’s U.S. House delegation remain undecided heading into this weekend’s pivotal vote on President Barack Obama’s 10-year, $1.2 trillion health-care overhaul. A fourth, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, D-11th, wants to listen to the debate but is leaning toward supporting the bill, his spokesman said. The Virginians conferred with constituents yesterday as House Democratic leaders acknowledged that they don’t yet have the 218 votes they need to pass the health-care package. House Democrats signaled that they might delay the vote until tomorrow or early next week.

Among the vast array of mandates, taxes, fees, and directives in Nancy Pelosi’s health-care bill is a 2.5-percent tax on the makers of medical devices. That works out to a $2-billion-a-year drain on innovation. The price tag is only the explicit cost. There could be an implicit cost: the pain and suffering of individuals who might go without new treatments they would have benefited from, if medical-device manufacturers had been able to use the money for research and development instead of paying off Uncle Sam.

Nancy Pelosi’s gargantuan health care bill—it includes 111 new boards, commissions, bureaucracies, and programs—has not overlooked the menace behind the glass panels of vending machines. Section 2572 would require vending-machine operators to post the nutritional content of snack foods on the outside of machines, so munchers can review the info before making a purchase.