On the passing of the Health Care Bill

So, it's done. The health care bill has passed.

Critics are raving; proponents are slapping themselves on the back.

And I, like most of America, am left wondering what this means for me and my family.

Let me be clear. I've said this before. The system that is in place now

Does.

Not.

Work.

I don't know if this plan will make any more difference than a gnat's fart in a windstorm. What I do know is that we had to do *something*. As keithdb pointed out elsewhere, it seems we've become a nation afraid to take chances. Afraid to fail - which makes us afraid to succeed. If every little step isn't planned out and risk eliminated, people don't want to proceed. And truth be told, I've been as guilty of that at times as the next person.

And yet, I find myself pondering two quotes:

If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten - author unknown

Take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly, and try another. But by all means, try something. - Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Leaving things they way they were is lunacy. Too many people fall through the cracks. Too many people have to choose between medicine for their children or paying the electric bill. They don't see the doctor because they don't have the money. People denied procedures that will actually improve their health and reduce long term costs for reasons unbeknownst to Gods and men.

And yes, I've been in *every* *one* of those scenarios. And they all fucking suck. And way too many of my friends are here as well.

I don't know if this bill is going to work any better. I'm neither smart enough to decipher it nor audacious enough to predict the future of how this will all play out.

But something had to be done. And it was.

Now we watch and wait. And if it fails, let us all have the decency to not point accusatory fingers, but instead admit the failure frankly, and try something else.