a baby step

but if that's what we have to do, i'll have to live with it. ideally, i'd love to see massive swift changes (and NOT just in health care. i'm thinking dump don't ask don't tell, funding that is solely based on ABSTINENCE 'education' and so very much more)

i don't understand how anyone could be against health reform. i understand having issues with certain things (i do, we all would) but i don't understand not wanting an overhaul. our health care system is a mess. the rich get richer and the poor get sick and/or die without adequate health care. there are people WORKING with no insurance. people who can't afford check up, drugs and even emergency treatment.

i don't want us all to hold hands and sway from side to side while singing kumbaya. i DO want us all to make sure our neighbors are taken care of. one never knows when it's us that will be needing that care



House Democrats pass health-care bill
One Republican votes for plan Senate will act next on legislation

By Lori Montgomery and Shailagh Murray

Washington Post Staff Writer
Hours after President Obama exhorted Democratic lawmakers to "answer the call of history," the House hit an unprecedented milestone on the path to health-care reform, approving a trillion-dollar package late Saturday that seeks to overhaul private insurance practices and guarantee comprehensive and affordable coverage to almost every American.

After months of acrimonious partisanship, Democrats closed ranks on a 220-215 vote that included 39 defections, mostly from the party's conservative ranks. But the bill attracted a surprise Republican convert: Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao of Louisiana, who represents the Democratic-leaning district of New Orleans and had been the target of a last-minute White House lobbying campaign. GOP House leaders had predicted their members would unanimously oppose the bill.

Democrats have sought for decades to provide universal health care, but not since the 1965 passage of Medicare and Medicaid has a chamber of Congress approved such a vast expansion of coverage. Action now shifts to the Senate, which could spend the rest of the year debating its version of the health-care overhaul. Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) hopes to bring a measure to the floor before Thanksgiving, but legislation may not reach Obama's desk before the new year...............

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