Every year at Thanksgiving, my husband requires all of us to tell what we are thankful for. The kids sigh and groan, but in the end, it's usually a sweet exercise. This year I will wonk out everyone by recounting the five things I'm thankful for related to health reform (they will most definitely sigh and groan... )
1. I'm thankful that I can get preventive care now at no co-pay as part of my Medicare benefits. That includes flu and pneumonia shots, mammograms (ugh I hate getting them, but I know I need to), colonoscopies (which I hate even more, particularly the preparation), but also all kinds of screening for things that affect older people like glaucoma, diabetes, etc.
2. I'm thankful that my family members who are not yet 26, but have been uninsured, can now get coverage under their parents' plans. I am really thankful that my hairdresser's son, who has had cancer, can continue his treatments. Otherwise he would be uninsurable.
3. I'm thankful that my family is healthy, but that if they were not, they would still get the care they need. My family members are insured, but that doesn't mean they will always get the right care at the right time. Health reform has alerted all of us to the importance of improving quality of care, and most importantly the Affordable Care Act has funded many good projects to help doctors and hospitals improve the quality of what they do.
4. I'm thankful that my nieces and nephews, and ultimately my grandkids, will have guaranteed maternity and newborn care when they decide it's the right time to have children. Not all insurance plans have covered maternity care in the past, but now it's part of Essential Benefits in the Affordable Care Act.
5. I'm thankful that the many people who don't have insurance coverage will be finally able to get good affordable coverage -- at least by 2014. And for people who do have coverage, I am thankful that insurance companies will have to spend at least 80 percent of our premium dollars on actual medical care, starting next year!
That's a lot to be thankful for. I couldn't have said this last year when we were still wrangling over health reform. What I am most thankful for is that our country finally had the courage to try to solve a problem that had been put off for 50 years. Yes, it was an ugly debate at times, and we didn't all get what we wanted. But we tackled it, and we will continue to work on it for many years to come.
What people are envisioning is the ability to obtain the level of healthcare that is currently provided. What you'll see by 2014 is a decrease in healthcare providers and services, the healthcare system unable to sustain the number of users, inability to fulfill the unfunded mandates and a greater waiting time for the service you desire/require.
Eight months later, I am still one of millions of Americans who cannot afford to purchase insurance.
The insurance companies and their CEOs.
This was a sad moment in our hsitory as many politicial "leaders" from the President (deceiving with "facts" about $50k diabetic amputations) to Republicans (death panels) to Democrats (the cost and purpose and hiding the bill -Pelosi saying you will learn about it after the vote)), never had a discussion of what problem was being solved, the facts and the options. Oh and what about cutting $350 b from medicare by an unidentified panel...and did we forget to reform malpractice?
Not our finest moment.
And I even didn't know yet that maternity care was part of the Essential Benefits, whereas I thought knowing this law rather well ... . I'm certain that by 2016, a vast majority of the American people will strongly support this law. That will be too late for Obama to get some political benefits from it, which makes it only more amazing that this president really had the guts to get it done.
However, this bill was not done well. Harry Reid did it without being bothered with any real knowledge. It was also passed with less than the 60 votes required, huh? Dictators normally do things like that! Very concerning.
As I understand it, this is really a huge tax bill, with very little real healthcare in it. It also cuts doctors' incomes in huge ways. Shortly we will have far fewer doctors because they will move to less socialist countries. Where will our healthcare be then?
2. Cutting doctors incomes: link?
3. Hugh tax bill: link?
4. Most of the Western developed democracies go much further in "socializing" health care than this bill does. So WHICH Western country would those doctors actually flee to, you think?
There's nothing socialist about this health care legislation. Nothing. Nada. Zip. By contrast, the program you say you favor really IS socialist.
This program, the Affordable Care Act, supports private insurance corporations by requiring people to buy private insurance. Private insurance is a business, it's not socialism. It's not run by the government.The Affordable Care Act subsidizes private insurance, so it's a give away to insurance companies--it may be corporate welfare but it's sure not socialism.
What you're saying here is really just a longer version of that nonsensical rant, "Get your government hands off my Medicare!" I don't think you know what socialism is at all, you just know it's supposed to be bad.
We need a little socialism in the U.S right now. We need single payer, like yesterday. We need to quit stealing money from sick people and running costs off the charts so CEOs and stockholders can get richer and richer. If health care really focused on health and care instead of profit we wouldn't be in this mess at all. You can thank St. Ron for that, not socialism.
If we lose 1,2,& 3, I promise you will not like your "healthcare".
I support reform, but have ZERO confidence that Comrade Reid even knew what was going on, much less got it right.
Again, I personally think that health insurance should NOT be the business of private sector companies. But if you know that for 50 years it was impossible to do anything about this problem, I think you really have to say that this bill is finally a first step in the right direction.