For the past many weeks, my office has been bombarded with calls from people calling for passage of health insurance reform, and I am firmly with them. After more than a year of public debate, tonight the Budget Committee will take a major step towards final passage of legislation. This will mean the difference between life and death for millions of Americans.
This bill will not be perfect, but it's impossible to conceive of the harsh reality that would follow failure to enact health insurance reform legislation. Voting against reform would result in millions of Americans losing their coverage, premiums skyrocketing for families and small businesses, and rate hikes like the offensive 39% increase Anthem Blue Cross proposed for California.
Some think we should start from scratch or discard the bill because it lacks a public option, which was in the House bill I voted for in November. I fought for a public option and signed a series of letters to advance it, but I will proudly vote to save lives rather than kill this legislation because it lacks a single provision -- albeit an important one I have consistently advocated for over the course of the last year.
This legislation puts Americans ahead of insurance companies, gives businesses control of the care they provide their employees, and puts a stop to the insurance industry's worst practices -- like denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions.
I will continue to fight for better health insurance reforms over the next weeks, months and years, and I am confident that whatever we enact this Congress will not be what we have a decade from now. Improvements will be made, and I will work to make sure a public option is one of them.
For those who suggest I vote against this bill, thereby denying millions of Americans the coverage they deserve and continuing current insurance industry policies and practices, I strongly and publicly disagree. The only pledge I'm making is to protect and insure as many Americans as possible.
Follow Rep. Earl Blumenauer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/repblumenauer
"Even.. You know what this bill says if they deny you coverage? Let's say they actually just say go ahead and say deny you because of a pre-existing condition, the fine is $100 a day. Per individual you have denied. So just think about that," says the Michigan native filmmaker. "The insurance company is going 'So, for a year, that would 36,500 dollars, but the operation is going to cost $100,000. You know what? I think we'll take the fine.'"
http://rawstory.com/2010/03/michael-moore-rep-kucinich-one-vote-435-standing-300-million-sad-that/
Is that the extent of our so-called "protection" from being denied care after we pay premiums to these crooks? God help us.
My husband owns a small business and I was laid off in December. If I don't find a job with employer paid benefits before my COBRA runs out, we'll be legally mandated to buy private insurance. We don't have an extra 15K lying around a year to do that. So, we'll have to pay a fine for making too much money to qualify as poor by our government.
And...we still won't have health insurance.
I'm glad the bill will cover 31 million adults who can't afford it now. But what about the tens of millions who won't get coverage at all and have to pay fines for that reason? Why does this bill have to punish the middle class in order to help the poor?
If states can't enact their own plans without litigation, dollars to donuts there will NEVER be single payer down the road nationally. Bush stacked the federal benches with pro-corporate judges, SCOTUS is pro-corporate and will be for a very long time. So any litigation against a state judged in favor of the corporation bringing the suit will be precedent.
You know the insurance industry lobbyists made sure that amendment was removed from this final bill for this very reason.
I stand with Kucinich on this one, this is a major issue with the bill that needs to be addressed before it passes.
You are doing what is right for America. Keep up the good work in D.C.
Thank you, congressman, because I am one of those Americans. My wife and I are self-employed and at the mercy of the miserable open market that Anthem is exploiting (our premium increase was "only" 21 percent this year).
Your vote to pass health care reform -- if accompanied by a majority of your colleagues -- will give people like us choice for the first time ever, thanks to the health insurance exchanges. It will end the risk of medical bankruptcy we face by ending lifetime limits on benefits (our current policy has a $1 million cap). It will end the danger that our health care provider will drop our coverage and that we won't be able to get a new policy due to preexisting conditions. And if our self-employment income drops, it will ensure that we can continue to afford our premiums due to subsidies. People can focus on the imperfections of this bill all they want, but compared to the status quo, this really is a no-brainer.
And did you need "choice" or did you need health care? Maybe next time we can pass a bill on "choice reform" and get health care.
Obviously, the bill is far from perfect and it's not what I would have wanted when the health care reform debate started, but the choice right now is between passing this bill or living with an untenable status quo for another decade or more. Virtually all Americans will be better off with this bill than without it.
You don't think regional insurance monopolies will merge into larger national monopolies or price fix premiums across state lines? Of course they will.
This bill will hurt most middle-class self-employed and small business owners. The ones who make too much money to qualify for subsidies, but not enough to pay what private insurance charges. They will be put in the position of having to pay fines because they aren't poor enough and health care coverage will still be out of reach. I know because that is exactly the situation I am in.
Of course the bill needs to be improved, but for the life of me, I cannot imagine why all of the Democrats are not on board. Granted a lot of the provisions do not kick-in until 2018 (?), which is puzzling, the provisions that do go into effect immediately will help so many Americans, not only financially, but more importantly mentally and physically. The sooner this is resolved the better.
Currently the US spends 52% more than the next most costly nation, Norway. In 2007 America spent $2.4 trillion or $7900 per person. Ordinary ailments turn into life-threatening crises due to a patient's inability to receive basic medical services in a timely fashion the ER the expense is passed on to us. Unless costs are contained forget about getting insurance through your employer. Folks, with a high school diploma, get bonuses for rejecting medical claims. So one way or another everyone pays.
At one time changing jobs meant higher wages, economic prosperity and social mobility. Today changing jobs means losing health insurance benefits and that is not a risk people are willing to take. But unless the costs are controlled they'll probably lose their benefits anyhow. That makes for an extremely stressful situation.
There is a moral, civic and financial imperative to get this done. Waiting is not an option because once it reaches critical mass it'll be too late. The American people have waited long enough.
Serena 1313, In all the posts I have read here over the months, I don't think any single statement has resonated so deeply with me.
It is such a shame that hard-working people who do everything right and just want to improve their lives and their futures live in fear of ANY change because of the health insurance issue.
Fanned for that insightful statement.