It appears assured at this point that the health care legislation being considered in the U.S. House of Representatives will pass.

I must say, I am greatly relieved.  Besides any general liberal tendency which I have (and I do), I am personally relieved.  My family has been generally healthy, apart from the myriad young child ear infections and such, and we have still gotten mired in the "pre-existing conditions" nonsense before.  I have run my own small company for over a dozen years without company-sponsored insurance, which has meant a series of increasingly expensive insurance which we use less and less each year.  Right now, we are facing a small health crisis (not me, not dire, not going there) which will be resolved fairly quickly and will probably not cost what one year's premiums do, yet it will almost certainly mean that nobody will want to take us on in the future.  If our insurer stops covering us, we are screwed.

But the health care legislation pending will help.  It is not a cure-all, but it does promise more of a guarantee that I will be able to buy insurance for my family, even if at high rates.  That is a relief, and for that I thank the members of the U.S. Congress who found it in their hearts (for whatever reason, political, moral, religious or pragmatic) to pass this.  I also believe that in the long run, this will make small businesses and large businesses more competitive in the world, since right now companies in many countries do not directly have to pay the high costs of health care, which are instead shared across society.

It's not the bill I would have hoped for, but it is a bill that gives me hope, for myself, for my family and for my country.