The long and arduous trail that our country has traveled during the national health care debate started long before the election of Barack Obama. The Clinton administration fought for health care reform. The Nixon administration struggled with it. Presidents from over 50 years ago attempted health care reform, albeit unsuccessfully. This is not a new problem. There is nothing that has been said in favor or in opposition today that hasn't been said for decades now, by both republican and democrat. The question was never whether or not the American health care system needed to be changed, because everyone agrees that it does in fact need to be changed.
Yet we find our politicians arguing not the merits of single payer (Canada) vs. public option, but instead arguing the merits of doing something vs. doing nothing. How can there be consensus that something has to be done, yet there has been no compromise on doing anything? I literally mean nothing, at all.
Opponents of this bill can argue that it's a government take over of health care, or that it is the government just spending more money that we don't have, but those are shallow arguments that don't hold water. The more troubling issue is that instead of finding out for themselves about the merits of that argument, most opponents of this bill just assume this to be so.
Here is the truth according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which is a non partisan entity that rates proposed legislation for costs.
1. In the first ten years the deficit will be reduced by 130+ Billion dollars.
2. In the second ten years the deficit will be reduced by over 1.2 TRILLION dollars.
The net effect is that *almost everyone will be covered and it will save everyone that pays taxes and currently has insurance more money. So why not save money and do the right thing? Opponents will say what they will, but the CBO has spoken. Both Democratic and Republican members of Congress rely on the CBO - so there is no cherry picking of data here.
Do no oppose for the sake of opposition. The bill is not perfect by any means, but to condemn a bill that most people know very little about just out of fear of change is not the American way. Our President won the popular and electoral votes of Republicans and Independents alike, and he ran on enacting this specific change. It what he was sent there to do, by an overwhelmingly huge majority, so cut through the talking points, the lies, and the misinformation and respectfully disagree. Argue merit. Propose policy. Do something besides say "no."
It wasn't too long ago that our President and his administration was calling his opponents "unpatriotic" for not buying into his policies. All I'm saying is provide alternatives, provide ideas and be a part of the solution. When did that get so hard....?
So what does this mean to you? Well, here is what the bill will do chronologically....
Small Businesses
Small businesses can start applying for tax credits to buy health insurance for their employees. This will make it easier for small businesses (America's most important employers) to provide care to its employees and make insurance available to more Americans. This will help small employers continue to:
A. Keep the employees they have and not lay them off due to how expensive it is to cover their employees.
B. Start to hire new employees because of the flexibility that the tax credit will allow.
C. Cover Americans that would otherwise be uncovered.
Senior Citizens on Medicare
Senior citizens on Medicare will get long awaited help with the purchasing of prescription medication, a shortcoming of the current Medicare benefit. Many Medicare recipients cannot afford the drugs they need.
As of June 21st, 2o1o:
High risk patients with pre-existing conditions that have been deemed NOT insurable will have "high risk pools" created for them and allow them to purchase the insurance that they need that they are unable to get as of today.
As of September 23rd, 2010
Children:
All children must be covered regardless of pre-existing conditions.
Coverage:
Insurance companies cannot drop you because you get sick - this actually happens now.
Limits:
There will no longer be lifetime limits on how much they will spend on provided care. No matter how expensive the procedure(s) you need, they will have to pay for it.
Young Adults:
Your children will be allowed to stay on your coverage until the age of 26, instead of the age of about 22 right now.
As of January 1st, 2011
Use of your health care dollars:
Insurance will be required to spend 80-85% of every dollar you pay them on care provided to you, and if your insurance company does not meet this requirement they will refund the difference to you as a rebate.
Preventative Care:
Medicare patients will begin to receive free preventative care with zero copay.
*All of the above changes will take place within the first calendar year*
As of 2014...
Pre-existing condition ban:
The complete ban on denying all Americans access to health care based on pre-existing conditions.
Exchanges:
Health care exchanges will be open to those that still are not covered, providing a competitive arena for health care consumers.
Annual Limits:
The Lifetime ban on payment of benefits will be in place already, but the annual limits on care will be abolished at this time.
All of that and it saves us all money. Who can be against that...?
