Hooray for Healthcare!

After a year of wrangling and near political suicide, the Health Care Reform Bill was finally passed by the US Congress yesterday. It now has to be approved by the Senate, and although it is quite certain that the Republicans will do their best to delay the process, they are no longer in a position to derail it completely.

For the first time in its history, the United States has approved of health care as a Human Right, and only just. Rather than a day of celebration, this should really be a day of eating humble pie. If the richest nation in the world cannot agree to pool its resources to ensure that all of its citizens have fundamental health care, how are we to guarantee this right the world over, in countries where there is no viable government to finance these services? It is rare that one finds such a clear example of the immense divide that persists between rights as a rhetorical promise and a political reality.

What has your reaction been to the Republican opposition of health care reform?