To the Editor:

Today, I am grateful. I am grateful that this long winter is over. I am grateful I didnt step on the snake in my backyard, yesterday.&bsp; Mostly, I am grateful that modern medicine spared my family a true tragedy. And that when it did, we had insurance.&bsp; I am grateful for the tremendous and loving care we have received from our doctors over the years. &bsp;

And I am grateful I will never have to listen to another laundry list of lies and exaggerations from an insurance bureaucrat as he tells me why he cannot offer us insurance.

I appreciate you, Mr. President for finally doing something about a problem which every other president and presidential candidate acknowledged&bsp; needed fixing, but none had the strength and conviction to actually accomplish.

My hat is off to you for standing up for American families who have gone bankrupt from their medical bills as insurance companies reaped record profits. Finally, we can enjoy the security that every other developed nation has been able to offer its citizens.

I am also hopeful. I am hopeful that the American people will not be fooled by the fear campaigns launched by the right. No, there are and never were any death panels. No, we will not go bankrupt from this, in fact it will cut about 147 billion dollars from the deficit over the next decade.

Yes, this is something that enjoys broad support: 49 percent in support, 40 percent against, according to polls taken the day after reform was signed in to law.( Ironically, the public option enjoyed even greater success, with 57 percent&bsp; to 76 percent favoring it, depending on specific provisions)

Yes, we get to keep our doctor. We cannot be cut because of preexisting conditions or when we get sick. And for the first time in our nations history, insurance companies will have a stake in our health. Maybe now, we will get some answers about the nations obesity epidemic.

Maybe now someone will tell us why one out of every three children born in America after 2000 will develop diabetes some day. I am hopeful that this is the beginning of many needed adjustments in our nations health and vitality.

And I am hopeful that Republicans will come to embrace a bill that owes so very much to their ideas The funny thing is, this bill looks a lot like the health care system put into place by Republican governor and presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. It is a bipartisan bill. And as time goes on and the nightmare scenarios do not pan out, &bsp;

I am hopeful that people of both parties will continue to strengthen and improve it. I appreciate you, Mr. President for not being intimidated by all the hysteria and name calling. And I appreciate all the legislators, many of whom have received death threats even, for continuing to work on a bill which will better the lives of Americas children, families, and citizens for many years to come.

A Republican put it best a century ago when he tried to tackle the problem: Those who oppose reform will do well to remember that ruin in its worst form is inevitable if our national life brings us nothing better than swollen fortunes for the few and the triumph in both politics and business of a sordid and selfish material. -Theodore Roosevelt

Margaret Curtis