Obama cements his legacy as health care reform bill passes

A little over a year into his presidency and Barack Obama has managed to do what none of his predecessors were able to do -- overhaul the nation's health care system. Since the days of FDR to Truman to Clinton, and almost every President in between, all have attempted to improve the country's health care system and all have failed, until now.

The desire to provide affordable coverage to all Americans has been on President Obama's agenda since the very beginning of his campaign for the presidency. In a dramatic Sunday vote, the House approved 219 to 212 a bill identical to one already passed in the Senate and cemented Obama's legacy as the president who managed to get health care reform. The historic legislation, signed on Tuesday, is meant to provide coverage for approximately 32 million of the nation's uninsured.

"In the end what this day represents is another stone firmly laid in the foundation of the American dream," the president said after the legislation passed. "Tonight, we answered the call of history as so many generations of Americans have before us. When faced with crisis, we did not shrink from our challenges. We overcame them. We did not avoid our responsibilities, we embraced it. We did not fear our future, we shaped it."

By signing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, President Obama did what he set out to do. He has ensured that health care for every American is a right and not just a privilege for those that can afford it. While he still faces critical backlash from many Republicans, it is important to remember that the number of uninsured individuals in the country does put a financial burden on the nation as a whole.

Is the bill expensive? Yes. Will it take care years before we start realizing any savings in health care? Yes. But to sit back and not doing anything is the way of the cowardly. Sometimes one has to do what is necessary and not what is popular.