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A Diluted Healthcare Reform Bill Is Better than None

As President Obama gets closer to the passage of the healthcare reform bill, his ratings will improve. His numbers are the lowest since he won the election, but a major achievement with the healthcare reform bill is imminent. It may take another month and a half but eventually there will be a bill on his desk for him to sign.

This bill will be transformational and it will dramatically alter the way the healthcare system works. Everyone is well aware that this bill will take incremental steps to improve healthcare for all Americans. There are 50 million Americans without health insurance, and this bill will help millions get health insurance.

The Obama administration is working extremely hard to get 217 votes in the House to pass the amended version of the bill, that is changing everyday. In the Senate, 60 votes are needed to pass the healthcare bill, but there is a special procedure that can be used where the senators only need 51 votes.

One thing for sure eventually there will be a healthcare bill, where the Democrats and the President can be extremely satisfied with their achievement. The Congressional Budget Office will eventually have to determine a cost estimate over 10 years and hopefully the bill will not exceed over a trillion dollars.

New ideas for the healthcare reform bill are now coming from everyone, including Republicans, Democrats, Doctors, Lawyers, Lobbyist, and insurance executives. This is a good thing because in order to make democracy inclusive, the final bill must be bi-partisan and representative of the entire country. No one party or group should make all the decisions, because the bill should be collaborative and transformational.

Once the bill is passed, and the President has signed the bill, the real work is just beginning. Transforming a system that is controlled by powerful billion dollar corporations will be a massive undertaking. In order to make healthcare affordable and accessible to an additional 40 million people will have to be managed by the government.

There is a great idea being promoted by our own Congressman Alan Grayson. He is proposing that millions of Americans be allowed to purchase health insurance from Medicare and Medicaid. There is already a system in place and the mechanism can be used to get more Americans insurance and not re-invent the wheel.

There are also great ideas where adult children can stay on their parents insurance until they are 25 years old, and this would help keep this age group insured. There are ideas where Americans with pre-existing conditions could not be denied coverage. With the large influx of Hispanics, the new bill would make it easier to get healthcare insurance to this targeted group. Also in the new bill, everyone would be required to purchase healthcare insurance very similar to car insurance.

With the cost of healthcare increasing this year for some companies and certain individuals by 25%, something has to be done. The insurance companies are making billions of dollars, but their profits are hidden and secret to the general public. Since their records are not transparent and accountable, the question is how can they justify 25% premium increases?

The healthcare system is broken and if you don’t have or can’t afford good insurance don’t get sick. Once anyone in your family gets sick, you will have to take out a second mortgage to pay your bill, or just refuse to pay it. Medical bills are a contributing factor to 62% of Americans declaring bankruptcy.

Americans now spend 8% of their income on healthcare insurance and the cost is increasing yearly. If a citizen does not get healthcare insurance from his company, the coverage on the individual market is more expensive.

The affordability and accessibility to healthcare insurance will always be a challenge, and is not going away, because eventually everyone gets sick. The politicians will not agree with all the different provisions and cost of the bill. The public will not know who to believe and who to trust.

Nevertheless as an American, we know it is time for a change in the healthcare system, and we need to support our president on healthcare reform.

By Roger Caldwell

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2 COMMENTS

  1. The fact that logic is thrown out the window every time “health care reform” is brought up saddens me. Adding the government as an added middleman so insurance companies have company, further seperating patient and doctor is so clearly stupid, it’s beyond belief. Logic dictates the more health care provided to people who don’t contribute to it means price will either go up (which it will) or costs will be cut (which it will); costs meaning quality of health care.

    And yes, let’s make medical insurance mandatory to everyone just like car insurance. If you can’t afford car insurance, you don’t drive; if you can’t afford medical insurance… ????

    It’s not just health care insurance that needs to be reformed, the distortions to medical practice foisted on doctors must be reversed.

    Hey, here’s a thought, just to make it equitable, let’s have the lottery revenues be the sole support of health insurance so the poor will contribute big bucks; at least then they wouldn’t be wasting all that money.

    Simple, easy reform is well within reach. How about basic health care services be provided by recent graduated doctors and nurses who had government loans? Allow a portion to paid off by manditory service. That’s a simple idea, easy to impliment that isn’t being considered.

    Let’s find solutions that work instead of dumb ideas that won’t.

  2. The thing I’m wondering about the Government plan is this aspect about pre-existing conditions… Is there any stuff in the bill about wether or not there is a limit on what insurance plans can require if you have a pre-existing ailment?

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