On health care, is doing 'something' better than doing nothing?

"What I am getting a lot of these days in conversations with my leftist friends with regard to the healthcare bill(s) before is,"OK, maybe they're not perfect, but doing something is better than doing nothing, right?

My answer is typically something like:

If your car runs out of gas on the side of the highway, is it better to fill the gas tank with rocks and dirt or is it better to fill it with nothing?" [Chris Gallardo]