New Health Care Bill

I woke up on Monday morning here in Barcelona and went on to the Wall Street Journal's website. The main picture on the homepage showed President Obama signing a bill surrounded by many democrats and a few citizens. He was signing in the new health care bill for the United States, which gives the United States nearly universal health care. This is the most radical political and social change in the United States in the last 30 years. There has been an ongoing struggle between Democrats and Republicans over the last year, culminating in the recent passage of the bill in the House. The bill barely passed, with the democrats only winning by 7 votes. The bill was voted against by every Republican in the House of Representatives, which shows the division of ideals among the two parties. The Republicans are already planning to repeal the bill. Republicans are expected to dominate the upcoming elections in November due to the general public's lack of support for the new bill. The new health care plan will cost the United States over 900 billion in the next ten years, but the Congressional Budget Committee has said that it will be able to bring the national debt to lower levels. Republicans are skeptical of such positive results, noting that many of the costs will not hit the economy for years to come. Even though the Republicans and most of the general public oppose this bill, President Obama seems confident that this is the right move for the United States. While this is huge news for the United States, it is also quite large news for the rest of the world. I went down to my local news stand today and the cover of La Vanguardia had a large picture of Obama. Even all my teachers here in Barcelona had discussions on the implications of such a radical social change. Many nations throughout the world have sought to emulate the private health care system of the United States, only for the US to change back to a public system. No one can predict whether this new bill will eventually be beneficial for the country, but at this point, there is a lot of skepticism. It will be very interesting to see the political turmoil that will surely follow the passage of this new health care bill.