We did it. We have taken the first of many steps...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

It's certainly not perfect...

Many are left out, marginalized...

There are ugly measures in it...

But.

Tonight, we have taken a giant, first step towards better health care for us.

Or maybe it's only a baby step.

But still...

We have begun.


And I am so very proud to have witnessed this...

Come, take my hand...

There's work to be done.

[Swamp Rat]

1. WOOHOO!!!!!

:bounce: :patriot: :hi: CaliforniaPeggy:hug:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. My dear Swamp Rat...

Ah, sweetie...

I am proud to have you grace my poetic thread...

:hug:

[Swamp Rat]

10. The honor is mine

:hug:

This bill will not help me, but I am glad we got the ball rolling in the right direction.

I've lived without healthcare for a decade and have been walking on a fractured ankle for 4 years (among other more serious health problems), but I hope the Dems will find a solution for those of us left out of the bill (before more of us die).

[Mojeoux]

20. Agreement!!

Much more to do!

No matter what the picky picky people say....it is great that
this passed.  

The Rebumlicans would have had a field day if it had lost.
They would be so freaking happy.  So on that alone I agree and
say WhooHoo too.

[avaistheone1]

3. How many decades before the people who are left on the back of the bus

can come forward and get affordable health care too?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. I have no idea...

But at least now there's hope that their situations can change...

[avaistheone1]

12. Hope doesn't pay for mammograms, presciptions, heart bypasses

or chemo therapy and the like, but I suppose some of us can just rot away waiting.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

13. Nobody should rot away waiting.

Nobody.

Changes will come. Without this bill, more would have died.

I'm sorry you're so bitter...

[ScreamingMeemie]

14. Reality is not Bitter CP... Watching a loved one die because they

can't afford health insurance high risk pools is not about being "bitter" CP, it's going to be all too real. But yes, this person is just being selfish and bitter that they are not well off enough to foot a horrendous insurance bill, strictly due to a preexisting conditions.

Most untreated cancers aren't going to give a person 4 years to wait on insurance. This is what we're saying. To claim it's bitter is either obtuse, or truly cruel. I am sure it is the former.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

17. I think you misunderstand me.

I was just sorry that the poster feels so much despair. I wish it were otherwise.

[ScreamingMeemie]

21. "I'm sorry you're so bitter"

Perhaps it was just poor word choice, the bitter part that is.

[avaistheone1]

16. Would you be bitter if your family could not afford health care?

I am sorry the view from your pedestal is impaired.

[ScreamingMeemie]

4. Far too many have been left behind for this to be a "victory" of any

sort other than "D" over "R".

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. I know you feel this way...

All I can say is that I feel this bill now makes it possible to change their situations...

It opens the door for further improvements.

[ScreamingMeemie]

7. Yes, and this bill will also continue to ensure that others will never

be able to afford, or have access to, affordable healthcare. Go team "D"! We beat those nasty "R's"!

[Ichingcarpenter]

8. I agree it is a great first step on the journey to better healthcare for Americans

I think it also exposes the autocracy of the senate and the need to reform that institution
I honestly think our house of Lords needs to go but that will take another 100 years.

This law was the first step of many on our journey.

[Oregone]

9. Steps to where?

Please. Someone? Anyone?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. Do you not know a metaphor when you see one?

I am celebrating by being poetic.

However, I do mean that concrete measures must be taken for this measure to be improved...

[Oregone]

15. ditto....

What I am essentially getting at is a pertinent question: what is the idealogical foundations of this bill and what road map does such an origins layout for future progress?

Are these steps back-wards? In a circle? In random directions? Is there an envisioned "End", and what examples are there for reaching such that are similar in origins?

[PBass]

18. I'm glad too...

Yeah, "incremental" progress is maddening, when the country is in a state of crisis. Still, this is a positive step. More needs to be done, but those who reject even small progress because it doesn't do enough, are being foolish IMO.

My comments here (and elsewhere) are not meant to be insensitive to those who are in immediate trouble.

On the whole, passing this bill is a good thing.

[eridani]

19. I'd love to do more work. Unfortunately

--the bill was written to prevent precisely that. Any improvements will be shitcanned with the excuse that we already DID health care.

[Kind of Blue]

22. Yes, the first of many steps through a crack

in the door. Hand in hand now to start the real work. Beginnings always a little scary and exhilarating.
KnR

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

23. To take ANY step forward on health care is a giant step, in the U.S.

First, it changes the "reality" that health care is untouchable and the status quo is the only way. That's what DUers who wanted the bill to fail refuse to see, I think. Before 94 the issue hadn't been visited in God knows when. Since then, almost a generation had passed.

That inertia HAD to be broken.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

24. Yes, the inertia HAD to be broken.

Well said, and I thank you...

Now, we need to fix what's wrong.