Yes, I know that we’re not there yet, that we’ve not yet broken the tape, that we cannot yet pop the cork and pour the bubbly.
I know that Congress might yet stumble and spill in these remaining few yards before the finishing line, before the garden ceremony, before the signing pen.
And I know that the medal won after this decades-long race has been fashioned bronze, and not pure gold, its luster tarnished by so much political corrosion.
Nevertheless, to all those here who’ve worked tirelessly, selflessly, and with cautious though determined optimism – never losing sight of the prize – I thank you. We're almost there, thanks to people like you.
I thank you, as a physician, for the patients and families who will no longer be left out in the cold, or shoved out in the name of shareholder profit.
I thank you, for bringing soon to an end a system of health care so dysfunctional and unjust that we spend more and get less than almost every other developed nation.
I thank you, for easing the fret and worry of those many good people in my community and yours who soon may no longer need to organize charity breakfasts and pizza parlor fundraisers to help their neighbors in need with their unexpected medical expenses.
I thank you, for bringing soon to an end the gross human indecency that finds people avoiding seeking help for want of insurance, that leads people to go broke trying to get well.
I thank you, for reigniting hope that our national health care statistics can once again be worthy of a self-professed great nation. We have not been enough embarrassed that we do worse than 32 countries in child mortality under age 5; that our infant mortality rate is more than twice as high as in Japan and Sweden; that black infant mortality in this country is still twice the white infant mortality rate.
I thank you, for bringing soon to an end a system that first checks the size of your wallet, not the size of your need.
I thank you, for restoring for millions of Americans the basic security of knowing that if you lose your job or fall seriously ill or are seriously injured you won’t have to sell the house to pay for the medical treatments to keep you alive.
I thank you, for bringing soon to an end a mad system that leads to Americans paying more and dying more, or at least sooner. Lack of health insurance has certainly been killing many thousands more of us than terrorism. The real wolf at the door has clearly not been the one hiding in a cave in eastern Pakistan.
I thank you, for allowing millions to soon receive regular, preventive medical care, and to access care early, before the high blood pressure that has heretofore gone untreated explodes into a stroke. Let there be no more of waiting and hoping to get better. No more of not treating the ticking time-bomb of diabetes. No more of not getting that Pap smear, or mammogram. No more of ignoring the pain in the chest.
I thank you, for bringing soon to an end a system in which unanticipated medical costs are the leading cause of personal bankruptcies. Two of every three personal bankruptcies are a direct result of individuals and families being buried under a mountain of medical bills. And three of every four bankruptcy filers had private health insurance. Nuts.
I could go on, but your time is precious. You've got more work to do before we're done. Once health reform legislation passes, there will be time enough to write endless lists of those things for which we should be thankful. Perhaps, after a spell, you will help write them.
You. You know who you are. You tireless ones, who've written your diaries, made your phone calls, contacted your representatives, and stood up for what's right - day upon day, month upon month, year upon year.
And if, in the end, the reform legislation we get is not perfect - and it is not - you can take much comfort in that even an imperfect plan beats the status quo.
And I thank you for that. From the bottom of my heart.