President Obama Signs Historic Health Care Bill -- Fixes Come Next

I am among the many who is happy to eat some crow today. I feared greatly that this effort would come to naught in the aftermath of the Massachusetts election and am absolutely thrilled to be proven wrong! While I do believe that the show of force we liberals made helped stiffen the spine of congress and White House, they still deserve great accolades for seeing this through.
Thank you Democrats for this victory! If you have the means, join me in sending a bit of money their way.

He signed ya, Bill... now you're a LAW.

Oh, Yes!!!

I'm from California. Our budget is always AWFUL because it requires a 2/3 vote. To get the extra votes requires a lot of pork and some atrocious compromises and additions.

I think this reconciliation bill turned out better than what the house-senate conference bill (that would have needed 60 votes) was shaping up as. We can't know for sure, but losing that 60 vote majority might have been a really good thing.

Congratulations Mr. President and Madame Speaker. It was awesome see no republican scum bags either.

OK, I know it was a serious moment and Presidents cannot say such things...

But I wish, after he had said "I'm signing this bill on behalf of my mom" --- he had then said, "Oh yeah, Congressman Boehner? Yo Momma, too!"

It's about 20 minutes after signing time now ...
checking out my window -

>No huge cracks have opened up in the earth's surface.
>City not in flames.
>No three headed goats eating babies.
>Nobody raping cattle or stealing the women.

Hmmm. Could it be that the fear mongers were wrong?

I'll keep you posted.

That was fun to watch, if only to give the finger to Righties. Now, back to reality.

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/03/23/health_care/index.html

The death panels showed up at my door a couple of minutes ago. I told them to use their sickles to cut the grass on my lawn!

How do you believe HCR will impact you; positively, negatively, or no impact? Vote

Now we get to see all the House Dems who voted against this thing take credit for it. And probably a few Reeps as well.

News flash: your meat was sold some time ago.

Vice President Biden was introducing President Obama, and as he turned to shake the president's hand, he offered a brief message that the microphone picked: "This is a big f**king deal."

LOL--I LOVE JOE!

Funny thing about Health Care Reform. . . the GOP was saying it would be Obama's "Waterloo" if he didn't pass it, and now they are saying it will be his "Waterloo" because he DID pass it, because now it will mean a GOP takeover in November, and/or constitutional challenges.

All their noise is not about Obama or Health Care, it's about their own grasping for power.

Sorry but I have to post this. Feel free to cut and paste into an email and send ti to everyone you know and especially republicans and independents. We need to brag about our accomplishments and educate people before the 2010 elections. People need to know all the good things that happened with the signing of this bill.

Let's start with how health insurance reform will expand and strengthen coverage:

* This year, children with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied health insurance coverage. Once the new health insurance exchanges begin in the coming years, pre-existing condition discrimination will become a thing of the past for everyone.
* This year, health care plans will allow young people to remain on their parents' insurance policy up until their 26th birthday.
* This year, insurance companies will be banned from dropping people from coverage when they get sick, and they will be banned from implementing lifetime caps on coverage. This year, restrictive annual limits on coverage will be banned for certain plans. Under health insurance reform, Americans will be ensured access to the care they need.
* This year, adults who are uninsured because of pre-existing conditions will have access to affordable insurance through a temporary subsidized high-risk pool.
* In the next fiscal year, the bill increases funding for community health centers, so they can treat nearly double the number of patients over the next five years.
* This year, we'll also establish an independent commission to advise on how best to build the health care workforce and increase the number of nurses, doctors and other professionals to meet our country's needs. Going forward, we will provide $1.5 billion in funding to support the next generation of doctors, nurses and other primary care practitioners -- on top of a $500 million investment from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Health insurance reform will also curb some of the worst insurance industry practices and strengthen consumer protections:

* This year, this bill creates a new, independent appeals process that ensures consumers in new private plans have access to an effective process to appeal decisions made by their insurer.
* This year, discrimination based on salary will be outlawed. New group health plans will be prohibited from establishing any eligibility rules for health care coverage that discriminate in favor of higher-wage employees.
* Beginning this fiscal year, this bill provides funding to states to help establish offices of health insurance consumer assistance in order to help individuals in the process of filing complaints or appeals against insurance companies.
* Starting January 1, 2011, insurers in the individual and small group market will be required to spend 80 percent of their premium dollars on medical services. Insurers in the large group market will be required to spend 85 percent of their premium dollars on medical services. Any insurers who don't meet those thresholds will be required to provide rebates to their policyholders.
* Starting in 2011, this bill helps states require insurance companies to submit justification for requested premium increases. Any company with excessive or unjustified premium increases may not be able to participate in the new health insurance exchanges.

Reform immediately begins to lower health care costs for American families and small businesses:

* This year, small businesses that choose to offer coverage will begin to receive tax credits of up to 35 percent of premiums to help make employee coverage more affordable.
* This year, new private plans will be required to provide free preventive care: no co-payments and no deductibles for preventive services. And beginning January 1, 2011, Medicare will do the same.
* This year, this bill will provide help for early retirees by creating a temporary re-insurance program to help offset the costs of expensive premiums for employers and retirees age 55-64.
* This year, this bill starts to close the Medicare Part D 'donut hole' by providing a $250 rebate to Medicare beneficiaries who hit the gap in prescription drug coverage. And beginning in 2011, the bill institutes a 50% discount on prescription drugs in the 'donut hole.'

i want to know where lush limpr3@ck is..so i can help him pack..he said he would leave the country..he'z going to costa rica? NOT FAR ENOUGH

OMFG Armageddon just started outside! I also notice Zombie Marx walking down the street mumbling something about shackles, capitalism and brains. I also saw at least 8 babies being murdered by health care reformers in ritual sacrifice to their heathen gods.

Oh wait...nope...70 degrees and sunny.

Well Caribou Barbie released a list of democratic reps. she's targeting for defeat in November. Three are from my state, and one is my congressman. Please donate time and/or money and encourage others to give to their re-election campaigns. You can go to Actblue or individual campaign websites.

Here's Palin's post:

With the president signing this unwanted and “transformative” government takeover of our health care system today with promises impossible to keep, let’s not get discouraged. Don’t get demoralized. Get organized!

We’re going to reclaim the power of the people from those who disregarded the will of the people. We’re going to fire them and send them back to the private sector, which has been shrinking thanks to their destructive government-growing policies. Maybe when they join the millions of unemployed, they’ll understand why Americans wanted them to focus on job creation and an invigorated private sector. Come November, we’re going to print pink slips for members of Congress as fast as they’ve been printing money.

We’re paying particular attention to those House members who voted in favor of Obamacare and represent districts that Senator John McCain and I carried during the 2008 election. Three of these House members are retiring – from Arkansas’s 2nd district, Indiana’s 8th district, and Tennessee’s 6th district – but we’ll be working to make sure that those who replace them are Commonsense Conservatives. The others are running for re-election, and we’re going to hold them accountable for this disastrous Obamacare vote. They are: Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-1), Harry E. Mitchell (AZ-5), Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-8), John Salazar (CO-3), Betsy Markey (CO-4). Allen Boyd (FL-2), Suzanne M. Kosmas (FL-24), Baron P. Hill (IN-9), Earl Pomeroy (ND-AL), Charlie Wilson (OH-6), John Boccieri (OH-16), Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-3), Christopher Carney (PA-10), John M. Spratt, Jr. (SC-5), Tom Perriello (VA-5), Alan B. Mollohan (WV-1), and Nick J. Rahall II (WV-3).

We’ll aim for these races and many others. This is just the first salvo in a fight to elect people across the nation who will bring common sense to Washington.