Our Hour to reach Greatness again in America: Nearing Universal Coverage

With Nine Months in office, the President and the Current congress have gone farther towards universal healthcare coverage than at any other time in the History of America. Not since Medicare was voted into being in 1965, against the same objections of the Republican party that it would bankrupt America, that we would get ‘Socialized Medicine” have we seen such a leap forward. i was on a panel discussion today at the University of Missouri and I saw GoodWill in action. With little care for how it would affect us personally in Medicine, I witnessed a total committment to reach out an fulfill the “Idea” that is America.

Remember, ‘America” is an idea, not geography.  My America does not torture. My America protects the weak and the vulnerable. My America is packed with a tulmultuous energy that welcomes everyone, from every land and distills the best drops of the Species on these shores and creates a fragrance of Hope and Heroism.

The Senate and House bills both put us at either 94 or 96% coverage of Americans. Both prevent denial of coverage to those who are the most ill, with pre-existing conditions and those are catastrophically ill. Both increase re-imbursement for primary care to balance the scales.

Let us pause for a moment and rest, and revel in the marvel of change. Let us absorb the energy of this tremendous HOPE and use it to finish the job. A strong public option. Control of the runaway greed of private health insurance. Expansion of the Med schools and the residencies, and let us pause, look at the closing of Guantanamo bay, the re-engagement of the rest of the world as a partner, not a tyrant, and let us feel the bliss, if only for a moment, that the idea of America, our Heroic and best America, our generous and noble America is. today, a more perfect union.