A Historic Day

HISTORY IN THE MAKING

Around this time just over seven years ago, I was awaiting my flight back to Nashville in the Reagan National Airport after having marched the day before in a protest against the war. An annual march against war took place yesterday. I was totally exhilarated from what I had just experienced. Today, I feel the same exhilaration but more positive in the outcome. 

Winston Churchill said (and I'm paraphrasing) that the United States could always be counted on to do the right thing....after they have tried everything else.  The US is finally doing what other countries did decades ago. Dr. Martin Luther King said, "Of all forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane." President Obama quoted Abraham Lincoln in his speech to the House, "I am not bound to win, but I'm bound to be true. I'm not bound to succeed, but I'm bound to live up to what light I have."

What happens immediately:
- If you get sick, your insurance company can not drop you.
- New limits of pre-existing condition exclusions
- Ban on annual lifetime limits
- Dependent coverage until age 26
- Appeals process

What is in the bill:
- All American must have insurance or pay fine
- Families making less than $88,000/year get subsidies
- New choices: state based insurance exchanges
- No denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions
- Parents can cover children up to age 26

What's not in the bill:
- No public option (which is what I supported)
- No mandate for business to provide insurance
- No "Cornhusker kickback" for Nebraska

More history for geeks like me:
141 years after African American men got the right to vote
90 years after all women got the right to vote
An African American President of the United States and a female Speaker of the House are making history by passing a major health care bill.

More to come....