President Obama Achieves “Real and Major Reform”

By Denise Reynolds

Saturday, President Barack Obama celebrated his successful signing of the health-care package into law on his weekly radio address.  He called the achievement “real and major reform”.

Obama becomes the first US president to realize a Democratic dream for near-universal healthcare coverage for Americans.  The health care overhaul will provide broader access to medical insurance for as many as 32 million Americans who do not currently have it.  Some of the other benefits of the plan include the elimination of pre-existing conditions and lifetime and annual limits on coverage.

He continued saying, "Passage of comprehensive health insurance reform...will begin to end the worst practices of the insurance industry, rein in our exploding deficits, and, over time, finally offer millions of families and small businesses quality, affordable care--and the security and peace of mind that comes with it.”

Many on the other side of the health-care dispute see the reform in a different light.  Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell vowed that his party would repeal the bill.  In his own weekly address, he said “This is bad news for workers, and its terrible news for the broader economy.  Most people aren't celebrating the fact that their insurance premiums will go up. Seniors aren't popping champagne corks at more than a half a trillion dollars in Medicare cuts. And, job creators, already struggling in a down economy, aren't doing any cartwheels over all the mandates and new taxes they'll have to shoulder as a result of this bill.”

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said, "I hope this health care plan covers hearing aids, because it's clear Democrats who voted for it have not heard the majority of Americans who didn't want government-controlled health care crammed down their throats."

Washington Post Ezra Klein sums up the healthcare reform by saying, “This bill marks an evolution, not a revolution, for our health-care system. Whether it proves the cornerstone of a better, fairer, more affordable system or simply another expansion of the federal welfare state has as much to do with what happens when the law is implemented as with what's written in the legislation. “