President Obama signed sweeping health care reform legislation into law today, hailing the moment as the latest example of America facing up to major challenges for the benefit of all its people. The bill constitutes the biggest expansion of federal health care guarantees in more than four decades, and its enactment was a giant victory after a brutal legislative battle dating back a year and a half.
"It's been easy at times to doubt our ability to do such a big thing, such a complicated thing, to wonder if there are limits to what we as a people can still achieve," Obama said. "We are not a nation that scales back its aspirations," he continued. "We are not a nation that falls prey to doubt or mistrust. We don't fall prey to fear." Rather, "we are a nation that does what is hard, what is necessary, what is right," Obama said. In the end, he said, the bill delivered the "core principle that everybody should have some basic security when it comes to their health care."
It's all about accountability. Accountability for the rights of the people. Accountability for the insurance companies who portend excellent coverage, yet it is not evident in their actions. Accountability for the field of medicine to perform their very best with skills and knowledge. And, accountability for each and every American to responsibly attend to their own personal health care, whether it be preventive or reactive.
So, congratulations to US for taking this monumentous step into the future. We know this isn't the end or a perfect law, but we the people have the opportunity now to mold it, mend it, and mind it for decades or more to come.
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