I am ecstatic that the bill has FINALLY passed. Why? Because, as a family who is often in situations between employment, we can FINALLY get private health insurance without being told we have "pre-existing conditions". In the past we have tried to apply for private insurance and either got denied due to Xander's reflux (what baby doesn't have a little reflux) or Jared's pre-inclination to diabetes, etc. etc. etc.
I think it is about time Health Insurance reform was passed. I know this bill isn't perfect, but the founding fathers even felt that the constitution was perfect, but they agreed it was the best that man could do, and they signed it anyway.
One other point that drives me nuts, is what kind of country do we live in where it is mandatory to insure a vehicle, but not people. People aren't upset about mandatory car insurance, and we get less back from that than we would health insurance. What type of country values cars more than people?
I am appalled at some of our government officials unwillingness to work together on this, and it has definitely changed my opinion about who I am going to vote for next election.
Now, I know I am not the voice of everyone, so I am curious what you think about his bill, AND WHY!!! I don't want people commenting that they do, or don't like it, without a reason as to why. So post away. Tell me why I am wrong, or why you agree with me. It seems like everyone has an opinion on this, so fill me in. What's yours?
13 comments:
Amen sista! While we have been very blessed to always work for companies that provide affordable health insurance, James' family is mostly self employed and has struggled for years to provide insurance not only for their own families but their employees as well. I know this is a important day for them and a lot of Americans who fall in that category of "not poor enough" to qualify for medicaid but also not wealthy enough to pay for medical care out of pocket. I've heard my sisters-in-law agonize over whether or not it is worth shelling out $170 to the doctor when their child is running a fever, when they might get a "hey it's just a virus and needs to run its' course" or all that money. People shouldn't have to make the choice between feeding their family and getting them the prescriptions they need. And you are right on- this bill is not perfect (far from it) but it's something to move forward on. The system is broken, and we need to stop talking about HOW we can fix it and start trying to actually DO something to fix it.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents :)
I tend to agree with you on this one. I hadn't ever thought about the car insurance issue, but loved your point!
I hope you are as estactic about it in a couple of years, because it is here to stay.
I have a lot of opinions about this. So I'll just start off by agreeing with you on a couple things. First off, I don't think people should be denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions. And I also agree with you on the car insurance thing. One thing that is interesting about the car insurance/health insurance comparison is that we don't have car insurance for routine maintenance or even problems that our cars have (like when my car had an electrical problem a few years ago that cost us $150). Car insurance is for catastrophic events - like a car wreck, or weather damage. I think the problem with health insurance is that we use it for too much. We pay way more for health car simply because we are paying a third party to pay the bill for us. Case in point: Dave and I saved 200 bucks every month for the last 6 months because we opted for a plan that doesn't cover office visits. So, yeah, this month I had to pay 100 bucks to visit the doctor, but I saved a lot of money over the last few months because of it.
One of the main issues I have with this plan is that is SAYS its going to save money, but all I see is raise in taxes. Expanding medicaid is a problem because there are SOOO many people who abuse the system already. (Dave works with a child as a PSR worker whose mother is completely lazy, refuses to do anything, has her child on medication that he doesn't really need, and guess who pays for her housing, food, cell phone bill, and medical costs: the government.) I really think before this, we need to fix the problems we have in medicare fraud and medicaid exploitation, but for we expand it.
Another problem that I have with this bill is that it provides government subsidies for people who make up to 88,000 dollars a year. Seriously? Someone makes that much money and needs help paying for their health insurance? Why, so they can buy a boat? We make less than half of that and we go without a lot of things that we might otherwise like so we can have health insurance.
Most of all, I think that this is a state issue, not a federal government issue. I am all for government help when people need it and are working toward helping themselves. I just think there are too many people who rely the government to provide for them, and this is a problem. Obama said that he wants to fund this bill by making medicaid and medicare more efficient. Well, we could all benefit from that anyway.
So, there are my two cents.
Well you don't have to have car insurance actually. It's only required by most banks to get a loan. I am fine with people having insurance and I totally agree on the high points that everyone in the house and senate also agreed on like the lifetime payment maximums and pre existing conditions etc. What I have a huge problem with is the government telling the insurance companies exactly what kind of plans they can and can not sell. With us as tax payers footing the bill for all of these new government oversight committees that never run as efficiently as the private sector, that always put politics above the needs of the people. This is going to royally screw up our health care system as it stands now. i hope that both sides will come together and amend the hell out of this bill to try and make it better. this passing at least puts it as a priority to fix instead of wasting more time. i have a problem with this bill allowing my money to help pay for abortions. obama's vow to sign an executive order against it is meaningless. his order cannot override law. this bill will cause our premiums and taxes to rise. it will not lower the deficit. it is going to cause our economy to loose even more jobs. we will have to pay for this for years before it will even go into effect. it's so long and complicated that lawyers will be able to twist the language into allowing even more crap to go on than we thought. it's a bad bill period. very few good things in it percentage wise. i hate entitlement programs. they are like getting americans hooked on crack and i have to help pay their crack bill. it's pretty bad when the majority of doctors are against the bill. they want insurance reform too but this is so much more in a bad kind of way. now many states are going to fight parts of this bill as unconstitutional. well that's fine and all but even if our state did not participate i'm sure uncle sam would still be taking my tax dollars to help pay for it in other states. i want people to have fair coverage and for the insurance companies to not rip people off but i'm pretty pissed about all of the other garbage in this bill and the tactics this administration used. we could have had a good bill that our country could afford that would have helped many people if they had gone about this in a open bipartisan way. that little bipartisan stunt on tv was a joke. they had made this bill before that behind closed doors and went right back behind closed doors after the little tv stunt. how stupid do they think we are? i could go on and on. all the stuff in this bill that has nothing to do with health care but a lot to do with buying votes. it's gotta stop.
I totally agree with Erin L
I agree with you Heidi. I mean we may regret this actual choice in the years to come...but at least something is happening! I think it's ridiculous that we are such a wealthy nation and yet have so many people without healthcare. I don't see why there is any reason for it!
I think its a joke... and unfortunately I can't agree with you... (but I still LOVE you!) I'll come back and post my reasons but at the moment my blood is boiling (not you... the whole shabang).
be back soon.
P.S. once you made a comment that our president should get respect because he's our president...(I think it was a blog post...I'll try to find it if you want me too... anyway)... I don't really agree... somebody doesn't get respect just because of an office or a title. You have to EARN respect... every single one of us has to earn it... including our president. And right now, unfortunately I think he's a joke and I think people are already regretting voting for him. sorry.... I hope we can have different opinions and still be bff's :) Love ya!
I debated on whether or not to post, mostly because I think that political debates should be had in person rather than over e-mails or other non-personal forms, but I decided to put my two cents in anyway. We definitely do need a health care reform, however I do not believe that it is the governments place to take over healthcare. I heard once that a government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take it all away. Also, even if the end result is a good one, the means by which it is being accomplished should not be simply looked over. In my opinion if you have to "bribe" and "pay" to get votes for ANYTHING, then that should be a sure sign that you need to take a step back and re-evaluate what you are trying to get passed. I have more opinions on this but like I said before I think political debates should be had in person. Like MaryRuth said I still love you, I just have to disagree with you.
I disagree with the healthcare bill on SO many levels. Pres. Obama said its "Proof that government works." No it isn't... its proof that you can buy people off and trade "political favors" to get what you want. But when it comes down to it, I think it is just a slippery slope to socialized medicine. Many countries have socialized medicine... It is because American healthcare has been more "free-enterprise" that it is one of the best in the world. Does healthcare need to be fixed? Absolutely. But this bill is not the solution. But maybe I'm biased because my husband works in healthcare and I can see how this is going to affect us.
P.S. I really don't think this bill can in any way be compared to the Constitution.
If you are going to post a long opinion, you had better sign your name by it, or it will be deleted. If you aren't man enough to stand behind your opinion, I don't want to hear it.
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