The final, formal act that ends the long journey of US healthcare reform into concrete legislation happened just before noon this morning, when President Obama signed into law an $938bn overhaul extending coverage for 32 million uninsured Americans.
“Mr President, you’re the guy that made it happen… You’ve done what generations of great men and women have attempted to do, Republicans and Democrats,” said Joe Biden, introducing Obama at the signing ceremony. (Embracing Obama after his remarks, Biden appears to have been picked up on an open mic saying to the president: “This is a big f*****g deal”.)
The signing ceremony took place in a packed East Room of the White House before a crowd of congressional leaders, guests and members of the Kennedy family, including Vicki Kennedy, the widow of Senator Edward Kennedy, who had fought for years to reform America’s healthcare system and remove many of the system’s worst abuses. Representative Bart Stupak, who helped broker the anti-abortion compromise that brought his voting bloc on board and provided the crucial margin of victory, was also in the audience.
Before signing, Obama ticked off a list of the benefits that the new law would bring immediately. “This year, insurance companies will no longer be able to drop people’s coverage when they get sick,” he said, to loud applause.
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