I agree with you wholeheartedly but it may be some time before American members of this board see what those of us who take this kind of 'right' for granted will see. Personally I have a number of family members who have benefitted greatly from a universal health care system... I really don't mind paying for it.

The bill is not perfect by any stretch- no matter which side you're on. I think it leaves the private insurance companies with too much power, others think it moves too far towards 'socialism' (whatever that is these days... seems the magic word when people don't agree with the program - kind of like comparisons to Hitler & the NSDAP everytime we don't like someone politically.) But here's the real problem folks- it is SO easy in the US for a single senator to hold the whole process hostage. The fact that anything at all got signed... anything... is a total miracle. Droopy the Dog (Lieberman) is the perfect example of the kind of power the insurance companies have- buy a senator and hold the process hostage for your own benefit. And it's cheap to do!

Look I have many problems with government spending on all sorts of things (like frankly stupid wars against countries with no possibility of redemption - read Afghanistan "the graveyard of empires") but helping to make sure that all our fellow people are healthy and will be taken care of when at their weakest is not one of those times. I personally congratulate the US on taking the first step- once you see the benefits I'm sure many positions will soften and the bill will be amended over time. Heck the rest of the industrial world has universal health care and fights for the right now and again when it looks like it may be compromised- why would that be? Because it's a universal good.