Ladies and Gentlemen, We Have Ourselves a Health Care Reform Bill

H.R. 3962 passed with 220 Yeas.

T'ain't perfect, but it'll do for a start.  The bits that people are moaning over can be remedied later.  Folks, we have momentum for reform such as we have never seen before.  Let's not minimize that.  Remember Aristotle's rule of great drama: start small and build.  Well, sometimes that works for legislation, too.  And we're not exactly starting small, now, are we?

36 million more people will be insured or become eligible for Medicaid
There will be a trillion dollars raised to help subsidize this.
There will be multiple measures to help control the costs of Medicare
We will stop subsidizing private insurers in Medicare Advantage
Closes the donut hole
Allows Medicare negotiation for drugs
Includes the seeds of a public option
Prohibits denials based on prior conditions; ends rescissions except for fraud
funds more education for doctors/nurses
Begins dozens of health prevention programs, pilots, surveys
Creates entities to evaluate and recommend better treatment, cost saving
And on and on.

This will put enormous pressure on the Senate to deliver.  This puts us within reach of reform.  And it's even bipartisan - Rep. Joseph Cao shocked the shit out of me by voting Yea.  That's made a liar of Eric Cantor and will have the Teabaggers in a screaming fury.  I loves it.

Once reform passes and is signed into law, we will have a scaffolding in place upon which we can build.  That means electing not merely more Democrats, but better Democrats.  We shall have a useful list of targets in all those Nay votes.

My darlings, it's open bar. 

And now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to return to my regularly scheduled writing...


(Thanks to rekenner for drawing my attention to the great good news)