It started back in November 2008 with "Yes We Can" and here we are one month before November 2009. The battle for healthcare reform is heating up and it looks like this is going to get vicious before it ends. Conservative American’s believe that universal healthcare is a direct plug for socialism. While more liberal Americans are pushing for universal health coverage to ensure all Americans have equal access to affordable health insurance and healthcare.
Since the first healthcare reform bill was presented back in June, concessions in the interest of bipartisanship, have been made so that the conservative base would endorse the bill. After many months of revising the initial bill, Senator Max Baucus submitted a revised version with most of the concessions the Republicans asked for. Senator Baucus was praised for his efforts and the concessions he made, yet the Republicans still refused to endorse the bill. It is as though the religious right, a people who laud themselves as god fearing, and a loving, caring people, could careless of the 46 million uninsured Americans or the 25 million more that are under insured. In my opinion the healthcare reform bill has been treated with great malice of heart by the right wing.
President Obama would like to have a government sponsored option in the bill for all Americans; However, the GOP and unfortunately too many Democrats are strongly opposed. They believe a government-run option would put private insurers out of business. But, what about us 46 million uninsured, who worries if we are permanently put out of business via death due to lack of insurance? For instance, on Sunday February 25, 2007, while both President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were still serving office, and enjoying their taxpayer funded insurance, 12 year old Deamonte Drive died of a brain infection caused by an abscessed tooth. This tooth would have cost a total of $80 to remove; but, because his mother lost her medicaid insurance, she now visits her son in memory only. After the many surgeries Deamonte’s medical bills began escalating past $250,000. One has to ask, wouldn’t it have been cheaper to have provided a government-run option health plan; which his parent would not have been excluded from? Can anyone of us truly argue that Deamonte and many like himself would not be best served under the government-run option?
A big selling point in this bill for many Americans is the inclusion of treatment for pre-existing conditions. Many people with diabetes, heart disease and obesity are often refused insurance by most private providers as their health issues are deemed pre-existing. For instance, many of us know former Vice President Dick Cheney who has had heart disease for years; yet, he was given insurance coverage. Myself however, despite not having any prior or current health ailments, was denied individual health coverage because I am over weight and considered obese by the health industries outdated standards. I’m not alone in this discriminatory practice by the insurance industry. People with pre-existing conditions are forced to stay with their existing insurance plans, provided they have them, making it impossible to shop for cheaper premiums out of fear of being denied or dropped.
Senator Chuck Schumer is clearly pro government-run insurance. He believes that healthcare reform won’t work without it, and I believe this also. I believe this because, if there is no direct competition to private insurers, and with the GOP wanting to remove the government from regulating premiums out of the bill, then private insurance companies can make and raise our rates at will, thus making insurance once again unobtainable for most Americans.
About the only thing I dislike about the health reform bill is that we will be forced to choose a plan and penalized if we don’t. What happens if we lose our jobs, are we still going to be penalized?
With all the hot air being spilled by the GOP and the right wing conservatives, why have they not offered a plan of their own? Saying that there is nothing wrong with the existing healthcare in America not only shows the level of incompetence by the Republican party, but it is also offensive to intelligent Americans.
Two thumbs up for Obamacare!