Gleaning Facebook: Why We Fight For ObamaCare

A reminder of why we fight for the Affordable Care Act. Shame on those trying to repeal it. It is not perfect, but it has wonderfully improved our system. Let's fix it, improve it, make sure it is affordable for all.

Gleaning Facebook: When The Political Gets Personal...

 From Sarah Fedchak...

I try to avoid getting political on here, as I believe the best conversations happen in person. But right now, the personal is political. I understand, as our current Congresswoman Elise Stefanik Representative (who voted for the bill) has repeatedly said, there is still a long legislative process ahead. I also understand that there are things in the current health care system that need to be fixed. But I honestly cannot understand the idea that "health care is a privilege, not a right," as I have been hearing over and over again in interviews with members of the House and Senate. Our own Declaration of Independence states that we have the "right to LIFE, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Is it just the right to life if you are born healthy and have no mishaps along the way?

Friends, my husband almost died because he couldn't get the care and insurance he needed to manage a chronic illness. Not just once, but several times. I watched him starve himself in attempts to reduce his debilitating symptoms so he could continue to work. I saw him go to the hospital every four to six months because of severe anemia due to internal bleeding. We joke that we started dating because I saved his life, but it isn't actually funny. It's true. I've sat the hospital waiting room countless times while he endured hours of surgery, only for there to be complications and the need for another surgery days later. Yes, this happened multiple times.

Want to know a confession? My oldest daughter's middle name is Dare, after her daddy. While it's not unusual for children to carry some part of their parent's name, the reason she does is. When Darrell and I were first talking about our dreams for a family, I had this fear that we would have a child and that Darrell would not live long to watch her grow up. So in my head, I decided that she would be named after him, so he would be a constant presence in her life. Sounds macabre, but on the day we said our wedding vows, Darrell was bleeding internally so much he could hardly stand, In our wedding pictures, he is as white as a ghost. I honestly thought my future would be that of a widow.

It is only by the grace of God, and His provision of hardworking physicians, the compassion of many people who helped us afford to go through this ordeal, and eventually Darrell's ability to get government sponsored health care that he is alive today. But all of this could have been avoided if he had been able to get insurance and afford the medicine that would have kept his symptoms in check. The ACA's provisions protecting pre-existing conditions literally changed everything for us.

Darrell's version of the story is below. I couldn't share his original post, but here it is shared (with some extra notes) by our good friend Mr. Shaw. I am sorry for being overly emotional and writing a book, but this issue is close to my heart. Thanks for reading.

Click the picture to read Darrell's story...

Healthcare: What does your heart say?

Some of my former students from our years at Nature's Classroom on Lookout Mountain will fondly remember the many wonderful camp field-group leaders there. Those who were lucky enough to be assigned to the field group led by D.J. will always remember him. He's the guy splayed out at the bottom of the steps in front of the group. 

The staff at NC was always outstanding but none were better loved than D.J. The kids were thrilled to find that D.J. was engaged to beautiful fellow staffer Sarah!

Well now Sarah and DJ are still doing outdoor education (as am I!) and happily sharing their commingled lives with two daughters.

But the journey of the last decade has not been an easy ride. Read D.J.'s story as he wrote it today on his Facebook page.

---------------------------------------------------

What does your heart say?

by Darrell Fedchak (alias DJ)

I'm going to tell you a story only a few people know. I've kept my silence until now, and recent events have led me to believe this story might open people's eyes.

In February 2007, I stood in an office and had an insurance rep look me dead in the eye and tell me I was denied health insurance based on a pre-existing condition.

I remember asking him why. He replied that since my condition "sometimes required surgery," I was ineligible for benefits. Benefits that would make it affordable to get the medication that would let me avoid surgery. I told him this, and he responded (and I'll never forget this exchange as long as I live): "Doesn't matter, it's your problem."

I was diagnosed with advanced stage ulcerative colitis is 2006. Short version: every so often my body would decide to bleed internally. I nearly died several times over the next three years.

----------------------------- 

"Doesn't matter, it's your problem."

-----------------------------

In 2009, it got so bad I could barely get out of bed. I couldn't work. The meds I needed would have cost me over $300 A WEEK. People don't pay that much in rent. But I couldn't work, and my family couldn't afford that kind of cost. I was too old to go back on my parent's insurance, even though I heard them on the phone a few times, fighting to get me covered.

It never worked out.

I got lucky. I qualified for a clinic that helped people in my situation. They helped me get Medicaid, and then helped me find a doctor and a surgeon who helped me with the initial surgeries. I needed three because I almost died in the hospital while recovering from the first one. I was in Buffalo General for a month. A MONTH.

Three years, eight surgeries, and a whole lot of good Samaritans later, I walked out with a clean bill of health. It was the hardest time of my life, and not just for me, but for my family and friends as well. There are still complications, still hardships, everyday. But I'm alive.

Today, the House of Representatives voted to remove Obama Era protections for those with pre-existing conditions. They voted to allow insurance companies to charge sick people more for their coverage, coverage they may no longer be able to afford. Coverage that could keep them alive and able to contribute to society.

I almost died because a man who did not know me denied me access to medication that would have allowed me to keep working, to keep contributing to society. I picked up $30k in medical debt just to stay alive; I'm still paying it off. I pray every single day that this condition isn't genetic; I'm deathly afraid that I may have passed this hardship onto my daughters.

It's too late for me to change what happened to me, but I can try to make things better for my kids. I can try to help build a world where they can get help if they need it. Not for me, for them.

----------------------------- 

"There are still complications, still hardships, everyday.

But I'm alive."

----------------------------- 

Put your politics aside for a moment and ask yourself this: 

"If I were sick, how would I feel about this new legislation?" 

"If it was my child, would they be able to get care?

What does your heart say?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Terrell's Amen

The 24 million folks who may lose insurance because of the repeal of the Affordable Care Act are actually individual people like Darrell. Each has a bloved child, a wife, a husband, a sweetheart, daughters, sons, jobs, churches or synagogues or mosques, favorite walks, hometown teams they support, best friends, favorite pets, songs they love, pet peeves, aggravating faults, great skills, and/or any of the plethora of abilities, disabilities, loves and hates that you and I have seen in our acquaintances. I will be thrilled for my taxes to go toward the healthcare of all my fellow citizens, even Klan members and Brietbart staffers.

Universal healthcare will:

-save lives

-lessen pain

-reduce suffering

-reduce costs

Call your Senators and Representatives.

Tell them you support the ACA.

Tell them you want Medicare and Medicaid protected and expanded.

Tell them you want Social Security protected.

Gleaning Facebook: Medicare for all!

I wrote this simple two sentence post on Facebook and sparked 56 replies. I enjoy these discussions.

Rid Congress of Ryan, Graves, and all Tea Partiers in 2018.

Make it simple: Medicare for all!

Comments:

Tom Barclay I'd go for ridding Congress of EVERYONE and starting over!

Sam Burnham Socialism: ideas so great they have to be mandatory.

Don Henderson There's always that one person who doesn't understand how civilized society works. This isn't the 18th century, in case you didn't notice.

Sam Burnham Our country is based on the idea of Liberty, which has no expiration date, in case you didn't notice.

Don Henderson You have the liberty to not participate in society.

Sam Burnham Not if I'm being forced onto welfare at gun point

That's the essential difference in our stances. I want to leave you free to make choices. You wish to force me to make the same choices you do because your system can't work without violent force.

That's not society. That's tyranny.

Don Henderson If you don't participate, no one is forcing you. Enjoy the 18th century on your own time. Don't force me to move backwards in time.

Sam Burnham No, if I refuse to participate I am fined. If I don't pay, I'm arrested. If I resist, I'm beaten into submission or shot. That's force.

Don Henderson You're free to move to Alaska and disappear. Cell phones and paved roads are too modern anyway.

Sam Burnham Your only argument is "it's 2017" and "modern". You do realize that paved roads and cell phones have nothing to do with socialized medicine or the present year, right?

Don Henderson You do realize your only argument is you hate humanity?

Sam Burnham Umm, no. And you reducing it to that highlights the lack of your own argument

Sam Burnham I'm arguing for the liberty of all people, for the right of them to not be forced into anything by big government, and for not just accepting whatever some progressive politician proposes just because it's 2017.

Laurie Craw Freedom is not just something only government gives or takes away and freedom is never absolute. If there was no government at all, we would not be free. We would be enslaved by a small group of private citizens who control all land, all natural resources, all the tools and means to grow food, build homes, travel,and get medical care,and they would obtain and maintain their power over us with violence. "Big Government" installed by the majority of citizens in free, fair elections is a necessary counterweight to "Big Capitalism" motivated by insatiable greed and unconstrained by morality and ethics in the interest of a common good. In America, we always seek a balance between these two powerful forces that impact our daily lives.

Sam Burnham Big government and big capitalism are two heads of the same monster and if you think for a minute that either of these two heads doesn't benefit from the relationship with the other, you're lying to yourself. Do you want Donald Trump, Paul Ryan, for that matter, would you want Ronald Reagan or Newt Gingrich in charge of your healthcare?

Laurie Craw No, I don't want Aetna or UnitedHealth in charge either. The only way I can be in charge is if I choose to treat myself with home remedies or accept the consequences of no treatment at all. Otherwise, I have to pay for doctors, drugs and hospitals who set their own prices, take 'em or leave 'em. But if I could choose how I get and pay for modern medical care, I would choose government insurance and private medicine.

Sam Burnham But what if we shaped a system that allowed a more community approach with access to smaller providers rather than huge hospital companies running all the hospitals and all the offices that used to be operated by physicians with private practices?

What if we're in an overmedicated society because big businesses are putting us on whatever medications insurance companies and/or Medicare will pay for because that feeds their bottom line?

Don Henderson If civilized society isn't your thing, that's fine, but don't try to impose your antique philosophy on me.

Raymond Atkins I always find it interesting that in the ongoing argument about healthcare, one of the first of the talking points is always that the government has no business in our personal choices, and I always want to reply, "You're kidding, right?"

Raymond Atkins The government makes us buy mortgage insurance, makes us buy car insurance, makes us pay taxes, makes us educate our children, makes us have our own personal identification number--assigned at birth--to make sure they can keep track of us and see that we are doing as we are supposed to.

Additionally, they make us buy licenses for everything we do, enforce sometimes foolish laws on us whether we agree with them or not, and have the power to enforce all of the above with penalties up to imprisonment.

Sam Burnham And that's way too much for them to be holding over us

Raymond Atkins I think those are all good things, Sam. They are the fabric of our society.

Sam Burnham " our own personal identification number--assigned at birth--to make sure they can keep track of us and see that we are doing as we are supposed to." Is the fabric of our society?

Raymond Atkins So given that we do not live in some sort of utopian fairyland where everyone does just as they wish, a single payer system--in at birth, out when you die--is not some huge leap over that mythological line between government and the people. The precedents have all been set. The ONLY way to rein in our broken medical system in this country is to put the big 3 (Insurance, Pharma, and Medicine) in the position where they no longer call the shots.

Raymond Atkins Incidentally, NO one walks away from a base of 350,000,000 insureds. All we need is some politicians with guts to say no to their corporate masters.

Sam Burnham There is no such thing as a "single payer" system. Everyone will pay. A lot.

Nancy Parrish We already pay a lot; it is just hidden. Nations that are less than we already offer single payer, and most of them receive some sort of help from the U.S. Our people deserve at least that much consideration from their government.

Sam Burnham Then we can become less than we are and be more like them.

Howard Smith Sam Burnham why don't you google the countries that are ranked higher than us in standard of living, healthcare, or ranked best nations to live in and why. You know what we rank first in when comparing nations...military spending, gun ownership and incarceration...

Sam Burnham Gun ownership isn't a problem or negative. We lead in military spending because we're committed to defending all of Europe who spends their money on socialism rather than defense. And I'm not exactly sure how more government is going to lead to less incarceration but it seems to be the answer to everything these days so let's give it a shot.

Howard Smith yeah right, it has has nothing to do with a massive military industrial complex that feeds off of our tax dollars requiring us to spend more on our military than Russia, China, Great Britain, France and a bunch of other countries combined. And, you're right, these social democracies that are ranked above have a higher standard of living, less poverty, less crime, better healthcare, better education, etc, precisely because they invest in their citizens, not in military bases all over the world. You know we have more bases outside our borders than all the rest of the nations of the world put together. And, yes gun ownership IS a problem as we have by far the highest rate of gun related deaths per 100,000 citizens of all the developed nations. And, since it is government that incarcerates either Americans are far worse people than are found in any other developed nation or our criminal justice system has issues. I've read enough on this issue to draw my own conclusions. And, one thing I know for certain, among other concerns, is for profit prisons and probation services aren't good ideas, nor are outrageous prison sentences for minor drug offenses...and, I won't even get into racial bias in sentencing.

Sam Burnham Massive military industrial complex can't do anything that Washington doesn't pay them to do. Perfect example of Big Government & Big Business, the two headed monster. So let's go ahead and feed the monster our healthcare system. The same people buying $750 toilet seats can start buying $1000 Tylenol. And if you think they'll institute reasonable price controls you might want to look at that military industrial complex again.

Sam Burnham

$20 trillion in debt. $20 trillion.

Howard Smith Sam Burnham I realize, like Trump, you are never wrong, but the fact of the matter is government sponsoreed universal healthcare is working pretty well in every, that's every, other developed nation, far better for more for their citizens that our capitalistic private sector healthcare system does for us and less of their GNP goes for healthcare...image that. Medicare, for seniors works pretty goo here, too. Try doing away with it. And, since you mentioned Tylenol, surely you are aware they pay pennies to our dollars for medicine. As for the national debt, a lot of that is, in fact, due to military spending...more than 2 trillion on the Irag War alone, and a fair amount due to Republicans being unwilling to raise taxes in proportion to their spending habits, preferring to let the rich get richer.

Sam Burnham So turn our medical care over to people who can't deny their corporate masters?

Raymond Atkins Nope. Get new people. This batch is ruined.

Raymond Atkins But the problem is not Obamacare or Trumpcare.

Raymond Atkins The problem is egregious corporate profits.

Sam Burnham A new batch will be ruined in a week. They'll have too much power to not be hit by the corporate lobby.

Raymond Atkins The government tells everyone who does business just what they'll pay. The exception is medicine, drugs, and the insurance companies.

Raymond Atkins I think eventually we'll get there, just as most of the First World already has, but it will be a struggle.

Raymond Atkins And, of course, many people will die who might have lived.

Sam Burnham And then we'll all just be slaves of the tyrants

Raymond Atkins Sam Burnham we're already that. The vast majority of the people in this country and in this world are subject to the whims and the agendas of the very few.

Howard Smith Sam Burnham I don't think our neighbors to the North, that enjoy universal healthcare and pay far less for prescription drugs, consider themselves slaves of tyrants.

Sam Burnham No, because they're conditioned to waiting years for non emergency surgeries and crossing their southern border if they need anything serious

Raymond Atkins Sam Burnham That's simply not true.

Howard Smith Sam Burnham. Why don't you just google comparative ratings of how citizens of various countries, including Canadians, view their heath care systems....(hint...America...not near the top).

Sam Burnham Then I guess the lady from Alberta who told me she had to wait two years for her surgery was a liar. I guess that's possible.

Howard Smith No, she was probably not a liar. Do some folks come here...and, lots of Americans go to other countries, too, sure. I have even known folks who have MOVED to Europe because of the cost of health care....met some Americans over there, too, who said they moved there for healthcare. Even had a friend that went to Mexico for a particular procedure because it was so much cheaper and another to Romania for dental care...saved enough to pay for the whole trip. But, I'm not basing my opinion on one or two examples and neither should you. However, if your entire frame of reference is some lady from Alberta, well...enough said. However, again, I would suggest you do a little more homework on the subject. It is a fact that nations with universal health care spend less of their GNP on it, it is a fact that medical care costs less for their citizens and so do prescription medicines, and it is a fact that their citizens have a higher level of satisfaction with their health care systems. When you add all these facts with the one about their citizens living longer...well, you draw your own conclusions. Of course, you can always argue alternative facts. You got me there.

Deanne E Daniell Voters must be reminded many times between now and then what these Republican monsters tried to do!!!!!

Jane Jameson If everyone is willing to pay their share!

Gleaning Facebook: Big Government and Big Business

Lots of "conservative" folk talk about horrible intrusion of government into their lives. I have not experienced a lot of that. Our government, elected by me and my fellow citizens, has, in many instances, enriched my life and my liberties. Of course sometimes I am in the minority and have to accept, temporarily at l;east, government action/inaction with which I strongly disagree.

Our dear friend Laurie Craw posted this comment on a recent thread here. It deserves a reading:

"Instead of talking in abstractions, let's talk about HOW government controls our lives and HOW big business controls our lives, with concrete examples. And I'm talking about how we LIVE our lives, day in, day out. Government, that is, the laws created by our elected representatives in government and enforced by the agencies those representatives also created, tells me I can't do a lot of things but I honestly can't remember wanting to do something the government told me I couldn't do, except get into a national park campground after dark one time. If I were a male and got drafted to fight a war I didn't believe was moral or necessary for national defense, I'd definitely have a problem with "big government" as many young men did in the Vietnam era.

But here's how big corporations (and small businesses) have kept me from doing things I DID want to do. Back in the "old days" before "big government" passed a law or two, I wanted to get a credit card in my own name to establish my credit but the banks said I couldn't because I was a married woman. I also wanted to take a one-month leave from my job when our first child was born, but my employer said I had to return to work as soon as my doctor said I was recovered from childbirth (that is, no longer "sick" under their sick leave policy) or lose my job. My husband and I were evicted from our rental apartment when our baby was born and it was perfectly legal for landlords to refuse to rent to adults with small children. More recently, I wanted to buy our diabetic son some health insurance to help pay for his life-saving insulin and other medicines but NO insurance company would sell him any.

In all these examples from my real life, "big government" stepped in and made laws to enable me to do things I wanted to do, things that were very important to me. So these are my examples. Let's hear examples of how government has prevented you from doing something important to you."

- Laurie Craw

Like many other posts of this sort this one elicited lots of comments. I usually enjoy it when friends like Howard, Sam, Laurie start commenting.

Comments:

Sam Burnham
Edward Snowden's revelations.
TARP
No Child/Common Core
2nd Amendment violations
Income taxes that over half don't pay.
Tax dollars spent on corporate welfare
Federal courts overturning state laws
War, war, war, war
NAFTA
Guantanamo- still going like the Energizer Bunny.
$3.42/gallon
No third or fourth party allowed in debates
Politicians with immense power over my life that appear on no ballot in my state (the reason we started with a republic with weak federal and strong state govts)
That's a start. I guess I'm an equal opportunity complainer. Washington, not just a single party, is the problem.

Terrell Shaw
Whoops… wuzn't through wit this, how'd it it get posted? Oh well…
All of these that are the result of laws were passed by our representatives, though I would like to see us make the Senate more representative and do away with the Electoral College and the return the filibuster to a real one.
TARP - (a Bush program) 97% repaid and may have saved us from a depression.
NCLB - a bad bipartisan program
Common Core - Mostly Common Sense
2nd Amendment violations - huh? Not a single gun taken from any law-abiding citizen yet
Income taxes that over half don't pay - but those half still pay lots of other taxes, and the folks who are paying are paying a smaller percentage than before 1980 and their percentage of the wealth is greater.
Tax dollars spent on corporate welfare - has been moderated some, but I agree
Federal courts overturning state laws - Article VI
War, war, war, war - We have made several mistakes here, but we have elected the guys who did it.
NAFTA - a mixed bag but my guys' should not have gone along with this. They did, and at the time so did I. Note this, it doesn't happen often: I wuz wrong. 

Guantanamo- still going like the Energizer Bunny. I hope we'll take another stab at closing it soon.
$3.42/gallon - OK I guess some govt taxes are part of this, but we need roads and bridges and such.
No third or fourth party allowed in debates - Is there any govt involvement in organizing debates? Usually news orbs and LWV and other private groups set the rules I think.
Politicians with immense power over my life that appear on no ballot in my state (the reason we started with a republic with weak federal and strong state govts) - When we had that horribly weak fed under the Articles it was a horrible failure. Madison and Co definitely wanted to replace that with a strong federal govt with plenty of checks and balances within it, and a balance between it and the states.

Sam Burnham
The electoral college is the last stronghold of the old republic. I'm not surprised that it comes under attack from liberals. Granting 5 or 6 states the numerical ability to elect the president of a 50 state republic is probably the least fair thing that could possibly be done with legislation.

Sam Burnham
And the Senate should still be elected by the state legislatures. The founding fathers designed it that way for a reason.

Terrell Shaw
I can see some value in giving small states some special power, but the huge discrepancy b/w Wyoming and California is just too much. It is anti-republican in my book. Not that any change is coming there anytime soon. 

Terrell Shaw
The Great Compromise was a wonderful thing. It allowed our republic to come into existence. But it WAS a compromise and made our republic something less than a true republic, and may have been a very long-term time bomb. When one senator from Wyoming (less people than Cobb County GA) can stifle our entire legislative branch we end up with the disfunction of 2014.

Terrell Shaw
You are in good company with some of the founding fathers (not all) who were very distrustful of the "people" at large. I am a small-r republican to my toes. I always want the broadest franchise and the greatest equality among citizens. I see no advantage in placing a state legislature filter between the people and their senators.

Terrell Shaw
Now, trying to repeal the 17th is bad enough, but if you go after the 19th Amendment, I'm telling Leigha.

Laurie Craw
Sam, judging from your list, I guess I didn't understand your anti-government perspective from the git-go. I thought you felt that government is controlling YOUR life and restricting your freedom in some ways, but apparently you just feel that the federal government (not state?) is involved in too many things in general. That's another debate.

Sam Burnham
Laurie, yes, the Federal government is too big and is involved on things it was never intended to be involved in. Most of it should be abolished.
On the contrary, the House is designed for the people, the Senate for the states. It would be unfair to bring Wyoming (first to pass suffrage) into the Union without giving it equal protection in the Senate.
Now, if you want to take power from ranchers and farmers and redistribute it to incredibly rich people and corporations in places like New York and California, that's the right course to take.

Sam Burnham
And actually, I'm in line with Founding Fathers like Jefferson, Patrick Henry and Sam Adams that were so trustful of the people that they were willing to leave governing power close to them, to maximize their influence over it as opposed to the Hamilton model of placing it in an ivory tower of strong centralized government.

Howard Smith
Fortunately, for all of you our founders wrote a living document, that both endures and adapts, and created a government, based on law, if not always in practice, and that is, if imperfect, still elected by us....for better and worse....and it only demands of us to make it work better in its pursuit of the common good our earnest participation.

Sam Burnham
So long as the creature doesn't evolve into another entirely different organism,

Howard Smith
That is called evolution and we have to adapt to change so, yes, the "organism" will change, too. and WE THE PEOPLE can and do and will create the future if we survive.

Terrell Shaw
Time out: Though I disagree mightily with you, Sam, I appreciate your willingness to use argument rather than vitriol to express yourself. Too many of us on all sides use that famous argument "[Fill in bad guy, bad idea, failed effort, straw man here] _________________ stinks therefore all you say in nonsense." So thanks for the polite debate.
Time in: Although I certainly believe in simple truths that don't change, I realize we live in complicated times, a diverse society, and a crowded planet. IMO Fifty "sovereign" states are not governable in a way that protects liberty, the environment, physical safety (from domestic & foreign dangers), reasonable economic security, etc.
I am glad that the founders realized that the wholly states-controlled govt of the Articles was a failure. We needed a federal govt and it needed power. I'm also glad they wrote in many checks and balances and divided the powers.
And I am glad that as history has progressed the system they wisely instituted for growth and change has allowed us to expand the franchise and make our Republic more responsive to ordinary Americans.
But as we've grown, inequalities that result from the Great Compromise and the Electoral College have become more pronounced. I see no reason for the ranchers and farmers in WY to have fifty times the influence in the Senate of the ranchers and farmers in CA. That's TOO much. In 1789 Rhode Islanders had about a 10 to 1 advantage over Virginians. Still bad. Useless argument, of course, but there it is.

Sam Burnham
And so many before us in other nations across the world have me believing that last "if" is very big. That is why I stay concerned

Sam Burnham
I'm not much for vitriol for vitriol's sake. I even try to find positives in people I disagree with and respect them in that way. This came in handy during this past summer's visit through Plains and Warm Springs.

Reason, argument and truth. As much as I disagree with the President, "Not Obama" is not a political philosophy. You have to know why you are for and against someone. That's why I'll never vote for either of our senators for any seat under any party, ever. I don't agree in practical application of stated belief. I want less talk and more action.
GWB spoke of smaller government and added an entire department to the federal government. Really? Words should equal actions. Too many folks telling me it's raining when I know better.  

Gleaning Facebook: I Love Obamacare

 The Republicans have had a good time labeling the compromise Affordable Healthcare law with the Obamacare nickname. Well, so be it. Even though it is not perfect, largely because of compromises that moved it closer to proposals from Republicans (not just Romney but others as well) than to the single-payer plan that many Democratic leaders would have preferred, I am thrilled that we finally have a national healthcare program. It has already done much good during its first two years and will accomplish more good. So go ahead call it what you will. I support it. Hurray for our President for his willingness to allow all to have input into the process -messy as it certainly was - to produce a workable program that could win approval.