Members of the House of Representatives take photographs with their phones as President Barack Obama signs the Affordable Health Care for America Act during a ceremony Tuesday morning with fellow Democrats in the East Room of the White House. The landmark bill was passed by the House of Representatives Sunday after a 14-month-long political battle that left the legislation without a single Republican vote.
The President, introduced by Vice President Joe Biden (who dropped the f-word while congratulating him), dedicated signing the bill to a number of individuals who’ve been affected by inadequacies of the health care system, including his mother and 11-year-old Marcelas Owens, who lost his mother because she couldn’t afford insurance.
While many are celebrating this monumental achievement, of course there are some who are not thrilled about it at all. Fourteen state attorney generals (only one of which is not a Republican) have gone to court to block the health care bill, arguing that it violates the Constitution. According to their lawsuit: “The Constitution nowhere authorizes the United States to mandate, either directly or under threat of penalty, that all citizens and legal residents have qualifying health care coverage.” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, however, said that lawyers have advised the administration that it would win.
Following the bill signing, the President later spoke at the Department of Interior, where he explained a few misunderstandings about the bill:
I said this once or twice, but it bears repeating: If you like your current insurance, you will keep your current insurance. No government takeover; nobody is changing what you’ve got if you’re happy with it. If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. In fact, more people will keep their doctors because your coverage will be more secure and more stable than it was before I signed this legislation.
And now that this legislation is passed, you don’t have to take my word for it. You’ll be able to see it in your own lives. I heard one of the Republican leaders say this was going to be Armageddon. Well, two months from now, six months from now, you can check it out. We’ll look around –- (laughter) — and we’ll see. (Applause.) You don’t have to take my word for it. (Applause.)
Additionally, The Christian Science Monitor has compiled a great guide to understanding just what the health reform bill means in plain English.
YAYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Congratulations USA im so proud of you. Only 1 thing remains, what will I now brag about as a Canadian? but on the real you guyz will really benefit from this, its really worth the taxes ,I expericne it and I know what its like to lose your job and be provided with health care sevices when your bank account is negative. Please take advantage its worth it. And for those who are against it, go and pay for your own private services and when financial situations arise dont sue your insurance company simply go rob a bank,then you’ll know whats its like.May God Bless America and Good job OBAMA and the people that voted. AMEN!!!!!
Your Canadian sister
Forgot to mention some health care are partially covered or not covered at all by the government depending on age,disability, province(state) and things of that nature. Im aware that most elderly people are covered for prescription while the average person depending on their situation. Again my fellow americans have no fear.
AMEN @ MISSISSIPPI SCARLET!
ALL THE PEOPLE THAT WERE TALKING SH!T CAN FALL ALL THE WAY BACK. YOU ARE NOT GOING TO STOP WHAT IS MEANT TO BE NO MATTER HOW MANY NEGATIVE COMMENTS YOU MAKE ABOUT OUR PRESIDENT. YOU CAN GET ON BOARD OR MOVE TO ANOTHER COUNTRY. THE CHOICE IS YOURS.
PRESIDENT OBAMA GET IT ALL IN WHILE YOU CAN BECAUSE THESE ANGRY MUFFUGGAS ARE GOING TO DO EVERYTHING THEY CAN TO MAKE SURE YOU DON’T GET RE-ELECTED. JOB WELL DONE MR. PRESIDENT.
Congratulations to President, Speaker Pelosi and all the members of the Democratic Caucus of the United States for getting this done. The impossible has been achieved and millions of Americans will access to affordable healthcare. I agree with Vice President Biden, that the name “Barack Obama” will be on this very important piece of legislation forever. This issue was truly the civil rights issue for the 21st century. We need to remember this important fact in 2012 when we have to work just as hard to re-elect President Obama.
Obama/Bidan 2012!!!!
whoop whoop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!he has done what no other president could do! gobama!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Allelujah. Amen. Thy was done. I suppose he continue to fight to get everything done. Fight tea baggers spitting @ people, fight them and some Rep. calling out the n word and calling the Pres. baby killer. STAY STRONG MR. PRESIDENT. Hold ur head up.
So funny, on my local news ( I live in Alabama) I just heard something about the state trying to prevent/ stop health care reform in Alabama.
Well yes! The ink might still not b dried yet from the signing of the bill and already theres law suits. These people did not waste time. Please! Give us a break! When the Constitution was written up was with only the original thirteen states. Not all of 50 states. Congress and the U.S. Supreme need to have change affect there too. These are much different times. The forefathers could not have envision a time like this where the views seen then could and should apply for today. To me thats been unconstitutional.
Thanks J Dakar
CL is the best blog ever!! 
Keep up the great work Angel! 
Thank God! God bless President Obama and Vice President Biden!
Yeah, Lisa, I live in Alabama too. Congressman Mike Rogers has cosponsored a bill to repeal the bill. And Attorney General Troy King is among those suing.
That’s my president
Thanks for the pdf of the bill…
I hope these fools actually take time to READ WHAT’S IN THE BILL before they get on here and make all kinds of ignorant comments like the ignorance that took place when this was posted yesterday. My goodness. Many people who are angry are actually benefiting tremendously which makes it all the more important to stay informed instead of just feeding into the hate campaign that the Republicans orchestrated. The people who are wealthy and do not want others to share the same benefits. Also, please don’t mention socialism until you look up what the word means and how many “socialist” programs have existed long before this healthcare reform was in the works. Maybe we can actually keep it civil today!
Thanks J. Dakar for posting the PDF because people are just hopping on that bandwagon and getting angry simply for the sake of being angry. It’s disgusting.
my class laughed so hard how he kept sayin thank yu nd they wasnt gettin the hint tu SIT DOWN lol they knew they jus didnt want to! i jus feell lik im livin in a history book nd i really am!
Thanks for the elaboration J. Dakar. Not really surprising I suppose. *sigh*
So if you can keep your old Health care plan then what hell are people complain about??
*complaining
@gucci because alot people is not educated. They do not understand what going on. They think a snap of a finger he can fix everything. LIKE HE SAID IT GOING TO TAKE A WHOLE TERM TO FIX EVERYTHING. He did not make the campaign about him he made it about all of us.
Lady said,
“because alot people is not educated.”
smh and lol.
Bitch, you have got to be kidding me?
—-@GUCCI
—-The only person that I can recollect being ignorant yesterday was yourself lol, and
—-it seems that you’ve returned with the same belligerence and emotionalism. This
—-bill is based in socialism, and you obviously do not know what socialism is, nor
—-what it’s rooted in. The people whom you and others claim are “benefiting” will be
—-doing so with a series of strings attached that will far outweigh any alleged
—-benefits. If you Obama-ites had any basic wisdom, you would ask that cuts be
—-made in the space program and that the war that he alleged he would end, would
—-actually end. That way he could re-allocate all those billions of dollars in a way that
—-would actually benefit the American people. Instead; you’re so mesmerized by this
—-man, and hope to use him as a matrix to brainwash your black sons (if you have
—-sons), that you ignore what this system has always been based in. The real issue
—-is that many black people have a slave mentality, &have become unaccustomed to
—-thinking and understanding things three-dimensionally. That’s why black people
—-are always shocked when things do not turn out how they were promised to turn
—-out.
——@LEO
——Lmao, that’s what many black people say when you question the kool-aid that
——they’re drinking…..”You very unedu-macated.”. Nigga usually dumb as rocks and
——want to tell you that you’re “uneducated”, and they don’t even know what the
——word “educated” actually means.
J. Dakar writes great articles. Keep up the good work Mr. Dakar.
———-because people are just hopping on that bandwagon and getting angry simply for the sake of being angry. It’s disgusting.———–
cosign Gucci.
Armageddon! LOL I like that quote, let’s just wait and see what happens people. Change is not easy, its misunderstood at first but once the clatter wears down and the dust settles we’ll see things more clearly and Obama / Biden and the administration will be seen as pioneers of a new age. And to those of you who want to be negative think about 11yr old Marcelas Owens who lost his mother because she couldn’t afford insurance and the others like him who lose a loved one every day from no insurance.
Also, half of the people (myself including) are not in the $100,000.00 arena. People give money to bums/homeless people on the street out of choice or maybe out of doing the moral thing. People are upset because they do not want to be told to help out, to do the moral thing. They want to be greedy and keep the $ for themselves and help out when it is convenient for them. The health bill is the right thing to do.
——@PEOPLE ITS CALLED OPTIMISM
——That’s very interesting terminology you chose to use, “pioneers of a ‘new age’”,
——lol. What “age” would that be exactly? People lose loved ones even when they
——have insurance because most of these doctors and nurses are inept. That has
——little to nothing to do with anything. You’re damn right that I reserve the right to
——decide how my money is spent, and who it is spent on. Everyone “helps out”
——when it is convenient for them, including politicians who chose to force their
——decrees on the masses. Again, black people have little to no idea of what
——America was set up to be ideally, so that is the greater issue. Whites are up in
——arms because the “ideal” of America was private ownership and self-rule, with
——the government created to PROTECT your rights, not tell you what to think.
——The further the government moves into a socialist regime, the more onus will be
——put on the government to provide solutions for the people, as opposed to the
——people understanding how to provide solutions for themselves. This is why the
——government has income tax, welfare, etc. After the staged Great Depression,
——caused by the Federal Reserve, the government came in to act as nanny to the
——people because they no longer had the ability to raise themselves up through
——free enterprise. There are a great deal of people in America who just want to be
——left alone; without some bird-brain idiot telling them what is best for them, much
——less some quasi-educated, slave-minded negroes who can’t even balance their
——own check book but want to tell you what reforms are “good for everyone”.
THANK YOU MR.PRESIDENT MAY GOD BLESS YOUR HEART!
I’m glad! Now it time to end that useless and expensive war. Then after that focus on improving our education system so that we can compete with other countries. Then energy and space; there is room for improvement in these programs…Wheww… we got a lot of work to do, but it can be done!!!!
@28 if everything you say is true, why bother? If every decision you make is already made up for you why even try? You say that you reserve the right to make your own decision has to where your money goes? Well, do you have a driver’s license? if so, did you just go get one or did you have to allow the process set up by others tell you what you had to do in order to obtain a license? Same for education did you decide to go to school? Who chose the legal age to drink or to fight in a war? What about the draft, when there is a war and people are needed but you do not want to fight and the government tells you, you must fight by law? Who changed it that a person of 12 yrs of age is not old enough to marry, it was common before. Who really makes his/her own decision? If there was no government there will be chaos instead of out cries. I don’t know about you but I prefer to deal with people’s whining then to deal with packing a weapon all day because there was no law. Again, this health reform is to aid in the assistance to help save and prevent costly misfortunes. We can only hope that it is set up to avoid fraud like the welfare.
May I suggest you read: lord of the flies
I appalaud the US for making such a montumental leap into the present. Again, many nations of the world already have Universal Healthcare it is only right that America stepped their game up.
Also, President Obama is to cool for words. He makes history everyday when he wakes up in the morning and every evening when he goes to sleep. Keep on doing you Mr.President.
Judah is right the Healthcare bill is a form of socialism and Karl Marx will be very upset. But, something had to be done the old way was not working and people are dieing for no reason.
FYI, Cuba has better healthcare than America.
@leo and i see why you so successful. Call me a bitch. Thank you bless your heart. Alot of people is not educated on the issue that going on. But bless u honey.
Although I NEVER agree with disrespecting another human being simply for their viewpoints, I do RESPECTFULLY disagree w/ most of the ppl who’ve posted comments.
Someone above, wont mention any names, stated that ‘now we can get to the business of ending the wars’. Well, if I were the President, and had voted against the war like Obama-that would’ve been my first priority. We could’ve saved 600 billion dollars in one year alone by ending the Iraqi war. That could’ve paid for more than half of the projected $1 trillion that this healthcare law is set to cost US!
However, I’ve known from the beginning that this President wouldn’t keep the promises he made. It’s funny how some African Americans have an almost spiritual reverence for the MAN! He just said the other day when asked what he will do SPECIFICALLY to aid the African American community (which is a FAIR question-seeing as though his Black constituents helped put him in office) that ‘I’m not just the President for Black people but all of America’. I’m paraphrasing. What kind of response is that? Not ‘I’m doing the best I can’ or ‘I’m planning X,Y & Z policies to help the Black community’ but I’m not just your President, leave me alone? Oh, okay.
I don’t believe that government has to take care of my daily needs-but WE THE PEOPLE pay them to represent and legislate for all of us. And they aren’t. People-the government will NEVER give u something for free without expecting/getting something in return.
The whole inadequate healthcare B.S. is just that B.S. So many programs already exsist for people without insurance and furthermore a hospital will not turn you away for lack of insurance. People die because hospital staff are poorly educated and lazy (doctors,nurses etc). Alot of doctors try to see as many patients as possible without giving any real diagnoses. They just write a prescription for medication and send people on there way . I bet anything If you research the number of deaths of people with insurance compared to those who don’t , It would be around the same. My grandfather is 90+ never go do the doctor, he flat out refuses and he smokes,drinks and everything else under the sun and is still living.I work In healthcare I see it on a regular basis . We treat everyone regardless, and they get the same care uninsured or not . I wonder how this bill will effect doctor’s offices in the next four years. This is going to be messy as h*ll. They already half treat people so imagine what they will do when more people can actually come to a doctors office rather then the free clinic or the ER.
@ 33 and Judah I enjoy your post. Wouldn’t make since if Obama focuse more on getting people employed rather than the healthcare. People are out of work and barely have enough money for food let alone healthcare.
Whew, good to know I’ll have healthcare at least til I’m 26 and can get on my feet after college.
@28 if everything you say is true, why bother? If every decision you make is already made up for you why even try? You say that you reserve the right to make your own decision has to where your money goes? Well, do you have a driver’s license? if so, did you just go get one or did you have to allow the process set up by others tell you what you had to do in order to obtain a license? Same for education did you decide to go to school? Who chose the legal age to drink or to fight in a war? What about the draft, when there is a war and people are needed but you do not want to fight and the government tells you, you must fight by law? Who changed it that a person of 12 yrs of age is not old enough to marry, it was common before. Who really makes his/her own decision? If there was no government there will be chaos instead of out cries. I don’t know about you but I prefer to deal with people’s whining then to deal with packing a weapon all day because there was no law. Again, this health reform is to aid in the assistance to help save and prevent costly misfortunes. We can only hope that it is set up to avoid fraud like the welfare.
May I suggest you read: lord of the flies
Who chose the legal age to drink or to fight in a war? What about the draft, when there is a war and people are needed but you do not want to fight and the government tells you, you must fight by law? Who changed it that a person of 12 yrs of age is not old enough to marry, it was common before. Who really makes his/her own decision? If there was no government there will be chaos instead of out cries. I don’t know about you but I prefer to deal with people’s whining then to deal with packing a weapon all day because there was no law. Again, this health reform is to aid in the assistance to help save and prevent costly misfortunes. We can only hope that it is set up to avoid fraud like the welfare.
May I suggest you read: lord of the flies
——@People It’s Called Optimism
——Lol, I don’t read fiction. I think that’s your problem. You believe in things that other
——people fabricate as opposed to studying reality. You should read the Constitution.
——Again, and hopefully for the last time you can grasp this. The United States
——government was set up under a capitalist, free enterprise mantra. It was set up
——to protect the rights of those who were allegedly “freedom-loving”. All the
——examples that you gave are irrelevant because none of them are
——UNCONSTITUTIONAL. Do you understand what I’m saying? Most of those things,
——like drinking and marriage age, are determined by your STATE. Government is
——not set up to avoid chaos, the LAW is set up to avoid chaos. The government is
——set up to uphold the law. Now, due to the fact that you either do not know or/nor
——understand that, this allows for the steady transition from so-called “democracy”
——to socialist oligarchy. No disrespect, but you’re a drone and a peon anyway lol. In
——regards to your remark about the draft, men fight for their country based on
——the PROTECTION of their goods from others. That is the point of war, not to
——accrue the goods of others, especially when you do not partake of the spoil. The
——soldiers of America are pawns. This is why the youth of America rebelled against
——the draft in the 1960′s.
@Judah The Conspiracy Lunatic
So basically my opinion is ignorant, but everything that comes from you is the epitome of intelligence? I think people on this blog have inflated your self esteem just a little to much, and unlike them I am not the least bit impressed at anything you write. Why are you always talking about black people using derogatory terms? I don’t know you, so you actually know nothing about me (race included). Your issue with black people is very strange, but either way it has nothing to do with me. It’s okay to not support the bill, as everyone has different reasons, but I took offense to the hundreds of comments yesterday from people who either didn’t know what they were talking about, or they were simply being ignorant for the sake of being ignorant. hreatening to assassinate the president among other things does not make anyone sound intelligent.We can have an intellectual discussion, but not with you. A conceited bigot like yourself will never get anywhere because you think you are already there.
We can go back and forth about which side of the political spectrum our beliefs fall under, but regarding my comment from yesterday, I just don’t remember you being so vocal about anything political on this blog until President Obama took office. My issue with you is that one day you’re talking about music videos, the next day you’re talking about the president, and every comment is based on the exact same conclusion. It’s like you’re anti everything. If I posted a picture of a blank piece of paper I wouldn’t be surprised if you wrote a paragraph about the evil history of blank paper. I don’t appreciate you trying to shove your bullshit down everyone’s throat, and attacking people who are smart enough to realize that you are not a credible source of information.
Am I the only one who has a problem with the fact that Ginuwine coming out with a new album has more comments than the post about healthcare?
Man! whoever is against the signing of the new Health Care REFORM–”BOO YOU”! & WHO CARES! I think it was a GREAT DECISION (The president has been working for this accomplishment for awhile. I am glad he suceeded) & some of those red neck, henpecking tight asses (Republican & Democrats also) in congress making all the fuss & noise, need to get a grip & get over it! They need to start RESPECTING President Obamas decisions & stop acting like assholes. We sat back & took all of the mess BUSH jr & his dad put us through & we still paying for it.
STFU & let Obama do his job man.
@ NATION
LOL! yes posts about POLITICS doesn’t really get much love say for example like a BEYONCE post would on here. Its always that way, sadly.
gives us an idea where peoples heads are at. Important issues like this- doesnt get the attentionit deserves.
Judah I know a lot of people don’t agree with you on here, but I do. It really saddens me that a lot of people don’t really realize what’s really happening. We’re on the brink of a One World Government and we have people running around praising Obama like this Health Care Bill is honestly going to save us.
They don’t realize that this bill will eventually force insurance companies out of business and then having the government run the business. This gives the Executive Branch much power causing parts of the U.S. Constitution to be destroyed.
People need to realize that taxes are going to shoot up higher than before. The economy is at an all time low and many are out of jobs. Who’s going to pay for all of this? We’re already in debt. Use your head folks.
Now we will all end up with clown school doctors, just like the other third world countries. Too bad for the Canadians, where will they go for their healthcare now!
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