The final leg in the health reform debate marathon may seem like a distant memory. The media has been focused on financial reform, immigration reform and most recently, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the man who tried to bomb Times Square.

But some recent health care news provides good reason to look back on what pushed health care over the finish line. Remember those astounding proposed Anthem Blue Cross rate hikes in California? The ones that shocked consumers in the individual insurance market who were told their monthly premiums were set to skyrocket as much as 39%? Back in February, the Obama Administration blasted the hikes in public, while inside the White House, the hikes were celebrated as a timely and convenient illustration of why more regulation of the health insurance industry was needed.

The blasting worked, at least temporarily. Under pressure from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Anthem agreed to delay the rate increases while independent actuaries reviewed their calculations. (Also, health reform passed.)

As I wrote at the time, Anthem’s justification for raising rates so dramatically made some sense. The company said rising health care costs and a less healthy pool of purchasers forced it to charge substantially more for policies. I also said at the time that rate hikes of some magnitude would probably happen anyway eventually. Of course, the White House was not interested in these caveats, which would have been clutter to its public relations campaign to emphasize the dire need for reform.

Well, earlier this week the California department of insurance released the report from those independent actuaries. The 145-page document is here, but here’s my one-paragraph summary: