A selection of today's opinions and editorials

Health-Reform Legislation Would Accomplish More Than Critics Admit The Washington Post
No one has guaranteed ways to slow the growth of health-care spending and ... the pending bills include most of the ways experts believe are likely to succeed (Henry J. Aaron, 12/18).

The Hardest Call The New York Times
If I were a senator forced to vote today, I'd vote no. If you pass a health care bill without systemic incentives reform, you set up a political vortex in which the few good parts of the bill will get stripped out and the expensive and wasteful parts will be entrenched (David Brooks, 12/17).

Smart Move: Congress Drops Needle-Exchange Restriction The Star-Ledger
Tucked inside the huge spending bill Congress passed last weekend is a provision ending the wrong-headed ban on federal funding for needle exchange programs designed to stem the spread of AIDS and other diseases among drug addicts (12/16).

Democrats On The Health-Care Precipice The Wall Street Journal
Enacting health-care legislation in the face of overwhelming public disapproval may cost the party its chance of forging a sustainable majority (Kimberly A. Strassel, 12/17). 

Women Caught In Middle Of Fight Over Abortion In Health Bill The (Milwaukee, Wis.) Journal Sentinel 
Women's rights advocates who were once firmly behind health care overhaul efforts are conflicted about the legislation, saying they won't support a health bill they say would roll back their hard-fought abortion rights(Diana Marrero, 12/18).

Which Lawmakers Can, And Can't, Play The Health-Care Game The Washington Post
As the attempt to pass meaningful health-care reform stumbles oafishly toward home plate, having missed a base or two along the way, it's hard not to repeat Casey Stengel's famous lament about the hapless 1962 Mets: "You look up and down the bench and you have to say to yourself, 'Can't anybody here play this game?'" (Eugene Robinson, 12/18).

Pass the Bill The New York Times
A message to progressives: By all means, hang Senator Joe Lieberman in effigy. Declare that you're disappointed in and/or disgusted with President Obama. Demand a change in Senate rules that, combined with the Republican strategy of total obstructionism, are in the process of making America ungovernable. But meanwhile, pass the health care bill (Paul Krugman, 12/17).