Yes We Can!

They passed it! Finally, after 50 plus years of leaders trying to enact it, crowds of rabid tea-baggers trying to derail it, an obstructionist Republican party trying to "kill it", President Barack Obama has passed Health Care Reform!

Late Sunday night, the House of Representatives under the guidance of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, passed the senate health bill by a vote of 219:212. This enormous victory for President Obama and the Democrats will bring reform to the insurance industries and health coverage to about 30 million uninsured Americans.

While this was not a perfect bill, and no where close to the Universal Health Care we have here in Canada, it is a step in the right direction.

Included in this bill:
- Children with pre-existing conditions cannot be denied coverage
- annual caps for health care are abolished
- Medicaid Donut Hole filled in (Seniors recieve an extra $250 a year to help cover costs)
- insurance industries must spend 80%-85% of the money they take in on Health Care
- Youths who are dependent on their parents can stay on their parents Health Insurance till the age of 26
- Makes all Americans buy health insurance; if you cannot afford it, the government will help by subsidizing your costs
- in 2014, no one with a pre-existing condition is to be denied
- in 2014, all caps are to abolished

The CBO (Congressional Budget Office) tags the bill at a cost of $940 billion over 10 years. They also say that the measures included will decrease the deficit by $138 billion in the first 10 years and then by $1.2 trillion in the next 10 years.

The cost of the bill is said to be paid by erasing the fraud found in medicare and medicaid and from tax increases to the wealthy.

The battle over health care put a lot of diverse groups into the ring. First, there are the republicans who actually took themselves out of the ring and have withheld all votes from this bill. No republican voted in the house and it looks like no republican will vote for it in the Senate. Then there were the conservative democrats who wanted assurances that the bill would not provide federal funding for abortions. They fought for this, even though the bill does not at all provide federal funding for abortion. Well, they stood their ground and Obama compromised, signing an executive order stating that the federal government will not fund abortions.

Then there were the Progressives. They wanted a public option, something very much like what we have here in Canada. But there was not enough support among members for the public option and it was tossed to the side. Well, progressive members of the House, specifically Dennis Kucinich, didn't like this and held out against the president. He came around a few days before the vote and helped democrats pass the bill.

The passed Health bill changes (passed by the House after they passed the Senate bill) is now being debated in the Senate and will hopefully be passed by this weekend.

While it is unfortunate that the bill does not go further in Health reforms, such as the public option, this is a good start. America needs people fighting for its future. President Obama and the Democrats, in my opinion, are the right people for the job and all democrat seats in the House and the Senate must be preserved for them to succeed in turning their country around.

Americans, vote them all in, in November. The midterm elections will be very important in securing a positive future for America.

If you would like to get involved I would seriously recommend the Coffee Party. They are a viable alternative to the disgusting Tea Party and by the time November rolls around, they may be the grass roots support Obama needs to secure his agenda.

And for your entertainment, I present "Yes We Can ft. John Boehner". It's pretty good, especially Rep. Boehner's part. I should know, I watched the voting process Sunday night and found it quite funny and disturbing.



Let's ditch the Republican "Party of No" and get the Democrat Party of Yes!