Faces of Change...

Today Health Care Reform became the law of the land.

Still work to do. But a lot of good work now complete. Thanks to Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, President Obama and the millions of others who worked to make this day happen.

Thinking of Ted Kennedy and wishing he could have lived to see this.

David Axelrod says that Obama was more excited the moment health care reform passed than he was when he became President. I think that's as it should be - winning the election gave him the chance to do this. But he might still have failed. His Presidency might not have been successful

Now, he has something more important than a victory. He has a legacy.

This is what change looks like....

Last night, by a 219-212* vote, the House passed historic health care reform that will provide cover to more than 32 Million more Americans and make every single American more secure - noone can now be denied care because they are sick, or because they are too middle class for medicaid but denied coverage by their employer. We are all better off today than we were yesterday, including the people who right now oppose this effort.

I believe that, like Medicare and Social security, this reform will become a proud bedrock of American social protection, and will make us both healthier and more economically competitive.

This is what I and more than 52% of Americans voted for in November 2008.

* Unfortunate typo corrected....

"If it be now, 'tis not to come...

if it be not to come, it will be now;
if it be not now, yet it will come:
the readiness is all."

Hamlet, Act 5 Scene II

The House votes today on final passage of health care reform. MSNBC reports that Democrats DO have the votes to pass this bill. Passage would occur in two votes - one to pass the Senate bill as passed on Christmas Eve 2009, and the second on a package of amendments agreed with the Senate.

The United States is alone among developed nations in not offering its citizens comprehensive health care, with nearly 50 million Americans uninsured.

Although the bill before Congress does not provide universal health care, it should expand coverage to about 95 percent of Americans. It would require most Americans to carry insurance with subsidies for those who can't afford it, expand the government-run Medicaid program for the poor, and create new places to buy health care.

Even so, the reform is likely to be judged alongside the boldest acts of presidents and Congress in domestic affairs. While national health care has long been a goal of politicians and presidents stretching back decades, it has proved elusive

The readiness is all....