Health Care Reform Passes: Historical for two reasons.

Just over an hour ago, history was made.

Health Care Reform was finally passed.

Given the name of my blog, "Louise on the Left" I felt I should take a moment to comment on this.

President Obama just won a historic victory as the House of Representatives finally passed this major bill which promises to overhaul our American medical system.

However, can we please look at the numbers?

-- These numbers suck.

CNN writes: "The bill passed in a 219-212 vote after more than a year of bitter partisan debate. All 178 Republicans opposed it, along with 34 Democrats."

We expect the Republicans to hold things up and be difficult pains in the asses, but the Democrats, too?

All that drama, all that bitterness and, what? For this? Just seven votes?

Oh, wow. Great. Good job Dems. Thanks for working so hard -- for the wrong team. Thanks.

All I can say is, I sure want to know more about those 34 Dems who did not support this bill and help them find another line of work.

Of course the bill is grossly different from what it was supposed to be. Of course the bill is not remotely perfect, but, come on! It's beats what we have right now. But, for 34 Dems to not support it seems historic, too. Historically appalling.

It was always clear that our incoming Democratic president would make this his top priority, so for Democrats to stand around and contribute to being the "party of no" knowing that this would be the main focal point of our incoming president, just plain stinks, I think.

So, yay! It passed. And I'm glad it did, but the numbers make me very skeptical about rejoicing so much right now. Because I think it speaks to a very worrisome issue at the heart of our leadership. No loyalty. No grit.

And so for me it's a very nervous victory because I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

So, while I'm holding my breath, let's take a closer look of what we do have -- according to Crooks and Liars.

According to Crooks and Liars

What you get when health care reform passes

Ten immediate benefits of HCR

By karoli Sunday Mar 21, 2010 5:45pm

Here are ten benefits which come online within six months of the President's signature on the health care bill:

1. Adult children may remain as dependents on their parents’ policy until their 27th birthday
2. Children under age 19 may not be excluded for pre-existing conditions
3. No more lifetime or annual caps on coverage
4. Free preventative care for all
5. Adults with pre-existing conditions may buy into a national high-risk pool until the exchanges come online. While these will not be cheap, they’re still better than total exclusion and get some benefit from a wider pool of insureds.
6. Small businesses will be entitled to a tax credit for 2009 and 2010, which could be as much as 50% of what they pay for employees’ health insurance.
7. The “donut hole” closes for Medicare patients, making prescription medications more affordable for seniors.
8. Requirement that all insurers must post their balance sheets on the Internet and fully disclose administrative costs, executive compensation packages, and benefit payments.
9. Authorizes early funding of community health centers in all 50 states (Bernie Sanders’ amendment). Community health centers provide primary, dental and vision services to people in the community, based on a sliding scale for payment according to ability to pay.

In our community - half-rural and half-suburb -- 50 community health centers will receive funding to provide health and preventive services to people with no access right now. And that's just one benefit. They're all valuable.