I am lucky that knowledge and feeling like this exist in the world; we all are.

If Telefónica (TEF) has its way, your knee will one day call your doctor. In partnership with Barcelona's Hospital de la Esperanza, Telefónica has developed a knee brace embedded with motion sensors that enable physicians to monitor patients' rehabilitation remotely after they've been discharged from the hospital. As they exercise, patients—and there are 200 testing the device right now—watch their movements simulated via a 3D avatar on a computer, which wirelessly sends the data to the doctor for view on a PC or cell phone. Telefónica aims to sell the brace to hospitals worldwide when trials are completed by next year.

Last time I visited my rehab doctor he told me about a National Geographic article about bionic assistive devices; today I found this article in Business Week. Click through to read about even more amazing applications to look forward to. Really reminds me of Eric Dishman's video about home-centered health care. My doctor had an interesting reaction though: "What happens when you turn the wrong way in bed at 4:00 in the morning? Does an ambulance crew wake you up?"

We in this country need to take more of a global view. My friends and colleagues from other countries are baffled by our nation's extreme behavior. One friend wrote: "How is it that going to war in Iraq generated less ire and angst than these healthcare reforms?" This is a valid question that is hard to answer, but his assessment feels pretty close to the bone. Another colleague, one who lives in Africa, put things into even greater perspective for me: "America still doesn't 'get it' that you live in a world of extreme privilege and luxury if the most anger you can muster is over a healthcare bill while many of the rest of us in the world deal with things like pervasive poverty, terrorist attacks, and dictatorships on a regular basis." All our rhetoric about Armageddon, doomsday, and government takeovers feels overbuilt and overblown when we step back to realize that many other parts of the world live that chaos as a daily reality--that "government takeover" has a qualitatively different meaning in a place like Uganda. Methinks we doth protest way too much!

 

We also need to take the long view of things. This healthcare reform effort is older than most of us--older than most of our grandparents--with roots going back to Theodore Roosevelt's 1912 campaign, if not before. This is not the first bill, nor the last, to deal with healthcare reform. But it is the first major bill in a very long time on the topic, after Presidents of all political stripes have failed to get something passed for almost 100 years. That is the sense in which this bill passing is "historic," not because it magically solves all of our problems (as some proponents overly celebrate!) but because it begins to break the century-long log jam of political taboo around healthcare reform that has plagued White Houses and Congresses for far too many generations.

...

In our perspective taking, we need to strive to learn what is really in the legislation and what is not, and to evaluate how those things will impact each and every one of us personally. We need to stop letting Parties and Pundits and Politicians use the media megaphone to tell us how to think and feel about these bills and do our own homework. This will take time as summaries of so many thousands of pages get written, as myths and misperceptions get corrected, as our nation finds balance again from the extremes that play upon and fuel our emotions. With 9/11 and other world conflicts, we've been through some terrible times as a nation. This is not one of them. The sky is not falling. And we cheapen those historical moments--and ourselves--if we let our reactions to this healthcare reform bill supersede the more serious problems we face.

Click through to read all of Dishman's thoughtful take. We all need to take a deep breath and read more analysis like this. And then roll up our sleeves.

Let me get this straight...

You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a
legal recount and appointed a President.

You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company
officials to dictate
energy policy.

You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.

You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.

You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that
posed no threat to us.

You didn't get mad when we spent over 600 billion(and
counting) on said illegal war.

You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars just
disappeared in Iraq.

You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing
people.

You didn't get mad when the government was illegally
wiretapping Americans.

You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.

You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at
Walter Reed.

You didn't get mad when we let a major US city, New
Orleans, drown.

You didn't get mad when we gave a 900 billion tax break to
the rich.

You didn't get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar
mark.

You finally got mad when the government decided that
people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they
are sick. Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, stealing
your tax dollars to make the rich richer, are all okay with
you, but helping other Americans...oh hell no.

I think I should carry a copy of this in my wallet so it's always ready when needed. Atul Gawande has published a really good, substantive analysis at the New Yorker.

Whatever you think of the bill itself, last night's passage of health care reform is a major achievement for the Democrats. Both Republican and Democratic Congresses have tried to reform the health care system and failed. The new bill will have an immediate impact on the lives of millions of Americans, and will frame the political debate between the two parties not just in the fall, but for years to come. I'll talk more about what the passage of the bill means in future posts. But as usual some of the best—or at least the crassest and most amusing—commentary comes from the smart-asses on Twitter. Here's some of what the commentwitteriat had to say, put together with help of the always entertaining favstar.fm.

@WadetoBlack: Flipping back and forth between the Life documentary and CSPAN tonight makes me think at this hour, the debate needs more Komodo dragons.

@pourmecoffee: End Times. 2:00 p.m.—Boehner set to get his last tanning session as a free man.

@tj: Here's a list of all of the Republicans arguing against government-run health care who have opted-out of government-run health care:

@atrios: Pretty sure boner pills included in HCR. Not sure why repubs so upset.

@spinchange: Very crafty of them not to have the mandate & public exchanges kick in until 2014, AFTER the world ends in 2012. Well played, Democrats.

@pourmecoffee: Sarah Palin updating her Facebook status to "Tyrannized."

@lhnatko: The healthcare bill has already improved the lives of Americans: it's knocked Justin Bieber off of the "Trending Topics" list.

@pourmecoffee: GOP to hold their breath until #hcr is repealed, and they [stomping upstairs] hate you, hate you, hate you!

@mayjah: Yay! The healthcare reform bill passed! Waitress, a round of celebratory abortions for all my friends!

@BrilliantOrange: Who wants to help me drag a Republican to his healthcare barcode tattoo appointment?

@jimray: You have to admit, healthcare reform sure beats the most lasting domestic reform of the last guy: warrantless wiretaps.

@CcSteff: What you're feeling, Republicans, is the ghost of Ted Kennedy's nuts on your chin.

@Ali_Davis: I think we know who has the biggest gavel in this room.

@abba_ks: That "hopey-changey thing" *is* working fine, thank you.

Thank goodness there's still some humor left...