This is it. If the Senate does not pass this bill, we will not have Health Care Reform for another 15 to 20 years. 30 million uninsured will continue to be uninsured, another 5 to 15 million will lose insurance, and, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the federal debt will increase by trillions. Vice President Biden makes the case in The New York Times.
The Vice President is absolutely correct. This bill represents progress! There will be opportunities to build upon it in the future, but if we fail to pass it, we fail millions and hasten the dissolution of the Democratic majority in Congress.
From a Catholic perspective, the bill is fantastic. It provides health insurance for the working poor in a manner that progressives since Teddy Roosevelt have been attempting to secure for 100 years. For those religious people who argue that the bill is somehow excessive government decadence, please review the Torah's legal requirements to provide for the poor. The requirements to leave part of your field unharvested so the poor could glean food from them, to provide for widows and orphans, to provide for the foreigner, all of these were legal requirements for a nation. It is not a coincidence that Israel has had universal, government guaranteed health insurance for years. It is also not a coincidence that the Catholic Bishops, guided by the Holy Spirit, have very vigorously, and at times, ferociously demanded universal health insurance for all Americans for 100 years.
Here in Ohio and all around the Lake Erie region, where unemployment is in double digits, this reform is most welcome!
Cheers to the Senate for getting to this point and prayers that the Senate will finally get the job done and that the House-Senate conference will reconcile the different bills in the most progressive manner.
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