Health Care Reform Passes!

Last night the House passed health care reform by a vote of 219-212. Then, the House approved a package of changes to it that goes to the Senate this week for a simple majority vote that seems assured.  Then it goes to the President.  It will provide health insurance for millions of uninsured.  There was not one Republican vote in favor.  Here are the top ten immediate benefits that Republicans tried to deny us.

Finally, the long national nightmare is over, and by "long national nightmare" I mean the Byzantine process by which Congress passed this bill and the horrible lies cooked up by the opposition to kill it.  Last night, as Rep. Bart Stupak spoke in favor of the bill, an unnamed Representative yelled "baby killer" at Stupak, who is probably the strongest anti-abortion member of the House.  The unnamed Representative had a southern accent and came from the area of the Texas delegation.  Naturally.

No matter what the opposition says, however, this is a historic bill.  It is certainly flawed but after decades of work, our absurd health care system will begin to focus on the needs of people instead of insurance companies.  It's an important start.  As President Obama said:

“We pushed back on the undue influence of special interests. We didn’t give in to mistrust or to cynicism or to fear. Instead, we proved that we are still a people capable of doing big things.  This isn’t radical reform,” he added, “but it is major reform.”