President Barack Obama signed his health care bill into law Tuesday after receiving approval from the House of Representatives on Sunday March 21. This legislation titled the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will help provide health insurance to 32 million uninsured Americans according to the Congressional Budget Office. The reform measure will prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage to unhealthy children and from dropping customers who develop medical problems. It will also force many employers to offer insurance to their employees or face financial penalties. In addition to the financial burden the reform would place on more financially healthy citizens Republicans claim that the health care reform will plague the nation with insurmountable debt and weaken already existing social health programs like Medicare. Democrats however assert that the measure will lessen federal budget deficits and temper rising costs of health care. Although both parties project the legislation to affect the federal treasury in opposite ways it will protect those often overlooked by the system at the expense of wealthy and upper-middle class Americans. “There are a lot more cons than pros junior sociology major Evan Cox said. [Socialized medicine leaves] a bigger possibility for abuse within the system and while it helps some people the tax would be way too high for what it would be helping.” Others disagree highlighting positive components of the new act. “They are trying to treat mental health care like medical health care which is an important step forward for America’s outlook on mental health senior and Pepperdine Health Center employee Sarah Beth Moore said. Professor of sociology Don Marshall expressed his support and hope for the successful socialization of American health care. I believe that in a few years this health care reform will be as accepted as Social Security and Medicare he wrote in an e-mail. I hope the democrats will swiftly defeat Republican obstructionism and complete the adoption of this program.” Marshall’s view coincides with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s assertion that health care is “a right and not a privilege.” Although recognizing that the legislation “is not as comprehensive” as nations such as France Germany and Sweden all of which have systems of socialized medicine associate professor of political science Joel Fetzer believes that “it is the best that could have been hoped for given current political realities in this country.” Senior Zoe Nystrom agrees pointing out that although the act isn’t perfect it provides a “really good foundational point.” Christian morality has shaped senior Omid Heidari’s sentiments toward the health care legislation. “If the church cannot address the needs of these people I’m willing to support the government’s attempt to do so Heidari said. While Heidari explained that other options exist, he made clear that he believes denying health care to those who cannot afford it is not an option. The House passed the bill with a 219-212 vote. All 178 Republicans, along with 34 democrats, opposed the bill. Inching past the 216 votes necessary for approval, 219 Democrats voted for the bill, Following passage, the House promptly voted on additional provisions to the version of the bill approved by the Senate on Christmas Eve. These additions included keeping young adults on their parents’ health care plans until age 26. While Cox sees this as a positive addition, especially for students opting to travel or continue their educations beyond graduate school, he believes it creates a free-rider problem.” Junior Matt Ladew agrees pointing out that although “people are cheering that [provision] on someone still has to pay for it.” Despite Tuesday’s ceremony during which Obama symbolically signed his name to the bill with 22 different pens the measure is not set in stone. The Senate will still have a chance to strike down the legislation as soon as next week and the Republicans are already planning to repeal the measure. Ladew hopes for this reversal citing lack of popular mandate as his biggest beef with this measure. “The most egregious aspect of this bill is its latent opposition to the will of the people he said. The largest plurality of people do not support this and [it was signed into law] anyway.” Fetzer pointed out however that the “30 million or so previously uninsured people who will be the primary beneficiaries of the new law are undoubtedly glad he did.”