Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Obama will have his Health Care!

Obama gave an excellent speech on the health care reform initiative. It contained specific details about how the health care reform bill would impact American people, health care insurers, and businesses - both small and large. It was explained in a direct, matter-of-fact way.

For the most part, the president's health care reform initiative is relatively moderate. Obama said that for those whose health insurance comes through Medicaid, Medicare, or their employer - NOTHING WILL CHANGE. That means that all of the private health care insurers (Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, etc) who are collecting our money through our HMO or PPO plans will continue to rake in the dough because most Americans are healthy and do not demand much from their insurers. Yet we will now have the opportunity to get preventative procedures such as mammograms, colonoscopies, etc. for free (hopefully meaning no co-pay). The president said Americans shouldn't have to pay for preventative procedures because it ultimately costs less to fix a health problem earlier rather than later.

For those without health insurance, he introduced the public option, the best part of the deal, but not something conservatives and Republicans should be so uptight about. The president explained that the public option is like creating public universities. Public universities have provided a less expensive alternative to education but does not take away from private universities in any way. Instead, it means that individuals and families with fewer means can still access health care just as students without much money can attend public college.

The president also acknowledged that what the public option really does is keep health care companies in check! If we live in a competitive market-based society and people have the choice of using the cheaper, tax-payer subsidized public healthcare plan versus the expensive, bloated private health care plan - most likely the people will choose the government. So, indirectly President Obama is commanding private health care insurers to lower their prices if they want to remain competitive. Their private coverage needs to be as good as the government's subsidized coverage. It is a very blatant form of health care industry regulation that is sorely needed in this country.

Most people in America are insured through their company and most companies have long established relationships with private health care insurers. Therefore the profit margins of private insurers won't take too big of a hit. However, it does mean that when the public option takes affect, private health insurers will have a harder time exploiting Americans now that we will have a viable health care alternative that actually works for us.

Some other extras that the President mentioned.
  • - No caps on health care coverage to treat illnesses and health problems.
  • - No coverage drops due to pre-existing health conditions
  • - No watered down coverage for the same reason.
  • - This plan does not cover illegal aliens.
  • - Paying for health care will not bankrupt you.
  • - Everyone will be required to hold some minimal form of health insurance similar to how drivers are required to have auto liability insurance. (How the president will enforce this, I don't know. Obama didn't either.)
  • - Some of these provisions won't be enacted for four years.

Obama called out the Republicans by stating that his health care reform will cost less than either the Iraq War or the tax breaks given to the wealthy. In fact, he said those two Republican bills were the reasons why he walked into the White House with a one trillion dollar deficit on his desk. His statements were direct punches to all Republican arguments that health care reform will cost too much and run our economy into the ground. However, Republicans believe that anything that might help the people such as minimum wage, maternity leave, health care reform, or environmental protections will kill the economy. Yet it never occurs to Republicans that how health care companies currently treat Americans are killing us.

Most likely, Obama's health care reform bill will pass exactly as he presented it tonight after a few kinks have been ironed out.

This is Barack Obama and we all know that President Obama's timing is impeccable. He will win this battle and go down in history with the Roosevelts and Kennedy's who have kept this country progressive and out of the capitalistic dark ages.

1 comment:

carmcarm said...

Never in my life have I seen such disrespect for the President of the United States! I can't watch the news ,I can't read the papers but at the same time it's like a trainwreck I can't help but look! Some nights I watch Fox news for hours and I'm sure my blood pressure is on edge. We're all gonna need health insurance to survive this.
I just don't understand how working americans who pay for healthcare can't see the benefits of his healthcare reform initiative.I have a $20 co-pay on the cheapest most basic HMO plan.How is that even feasible.Is it just me, or does this sound insane.The insurance companies are just plain greedy. I've worked in the healthcare industry for over 10 years now and when I witnessed hospitals allowing representatives from insurance companies harass medicaid recipients into choosing insurance plans, I knew that there had to be copious amounts of profit involved. Profits that you and I as consumers are'nt compensated for.
I think it's a very sad day in America when we can't agree on something that affects everyone because of blatant bigotry. If they can make a mockery of congress with outburts and pure disrespect we need to start opening our mouths too.