I can scarecely contain myself, much less believe that the day has come when we, as a nation are collectively working towards overhauling healthcare.
I have enjoyed varying levels of insurance over my 20 years of living in America, but happen to fall into a category of people with a chronic illness, or major health problems who have incurred very high medical bills and not enough resources to pay for them, deductibles and copays notwithstanding.
We are finally at a point where we recognize as a nation that what we have does not work for everyone, insured or not.
Here is the link to the article: http://money.aol.com/article/congress-set-to-tackle-health-care/464742
Showing posts with label health care reform.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health care reform.. Show all posts
Monday, June 1, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
The first showdown on healthcare
The shoe is on the proverbial other foot. President Obama is seeking healthcare reform - he is desirous to insure the some 50 million uninsured in this country. The task is daunting and certainly ambitious. It is also long overdue. We all remember when First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton tried to accomplish same when her husband, Bill was President some years ago. Giant healthcare conglomerates hired lobbyists to effectively incapacitate her efforts. They won.
In this case, Obama and his amazing staffers have come up with a palatable version of healthcare reform - palatable to most that is, except Republicans. Evidently, they have forgotten all the nefarious legislation that they pushed through these past few years of having majority rule.
Here is an excerpt from a story that posted earlier in the NY Times: "If reconciliation is endorsed, the budget resolution will direct relevant committees to prepare health care legislation that can be merged into a single bill and then passed by a simple majority of those voting. That would make it easier to adopt such important measures as a tightly regulated insurance exchange for those without group coverage, a new public plan to compete with private plans, and mandates that employers contribute to the cost of covering their employees.
The reconciliation approach is not bulletproof. It is primarily designed to deal with spending and revenue issues that affect the deficit. Under current rules, senators can seek to remove any provisions deemed extraneous or “merely incidental” to such budgetary concerns. Nobody is quite sure how the Senate parliamentarian would rule on such items as tighter regulation of private insurers or creation of a new public plan or incentives to improve the coordination of care.
Republicans are also complaining that reconciliation limits the hours of debate and the opportunity for amendments. But Congress has already been wrestling with health care reform in multiple committees, so the need for more posturing in floor debate is not apparent. There are also dire warnings that resorting to reconciliation will poison the atmosphere for bipartisanship. That may well happen, but so far most Republicans have shown little appetite for cooperation on anything."
Here is the link:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/opinion/12sun1.html
We are in exciting times, challenging for sure, but exciting nonetheless. Republicans have at least 4 years to learn what it has been like for Democrats to have virtually no say in the running of the country.
In this case, Obama and his amazing staffers have come up with a palatable version of healthcare reform - palatable to most that is, except Republicans. Evidently, they have forgotten all the nefarious legislation that they pushed through these past few years of having majority rule.
Here is an excerpt from a story that posted earlier in the NY Times: "If reconciliation is endorsed, the budget resolution will direct relevant committees to prepare health care legislation that can be merged into a single bill and then passed by a simple majority of those voting. That would make it easier to adopt such important measures as a tightly regulated insurance exchange for those without group coverage, a new public plan to compete with private plans, and mandates that employers contribute to the cost of covering their employees.
The reconciliation approach is not bulletproof. It is primarily designed to deal with spending and revenue issues that affect the deficit. Under current rules, senators can seek to remove any provisions deemed extraneous or “merely incidental” to such budgetary concerns. Nobody is quite sure how the Senate parliamentarian would rule on such items as tighter regulation of private insurers or creation of a new public plan or incentives to improve the coordination of care.
Republicans are also complaining that reconciliation limits the hours of debate and the opportunity for amendments. But Congress has already been wrestling with health care reform in multiple committees, so the need for more posturing in floor debate is not apparent. There are also dire warnings that resorting to reconciliation will poison the atmosphere for bipartisanship. That may well happen, but so far most Republicans have shown little appetite for cooperation on anything."
Here is the link:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/opinion/12sun1.html
We are in exciting times, challenging for sure, but exciting nonetheless. Republicans have at least 4 years to learn what it has been like for Democrats to have virtually no say in the running of the country.
America's uninsured have not shown collective power
That is the title of a story that posted today on AOL. I have been uninsured for about 18 months now, since having to choose between having a full time job with health insurance and being a homeless person. I chose a place to live. National health care of a sort is an issue that I care deeply about. While I am not a lobbyist, I know how the process works. I have lobbied about various causes on several occasions, immigration, women's issues, homeless issues, gay rights, payday lenders and the like.
It is unfortunate that those of us who are not insured do not have the time, means and wherewithal to lobby effectively - we are simply too busy living life, holding one, two or three part time jobs in order to make ends meet.
Here is an excerpt from the article: "The number of uninsured has grown to an estimated 50 million people because of the recession. Even so, advocates in the halls of Congress are rarely the uninsured themselves. The most visible are groups that represent people who have insurance, usually union members and older people. In the last election, only 10 percent of registered voters said they were uninsured.
The grass-roots group Health Care for America Now plans to bring as many as 15,000 people to Washington this year to lobby Congress for guaranteed coverage. Campaign director Richard Kirsch expects most to have health insurance.
"We would never want to organize the uninsured by themselves because Americans see the problem as affordability, and that is the key thing," he said.
Besides, added Kirsch, the uninsured are too busy scrambling to make ends meet. Many are self-employed; others are holding two or three part-time jobs. "They may not have a lot of time to be activists," he said.
If you want to get involved with this issue such as I am going to now after reading this article, here are links to the White House, agencies and groups that might be helpful:
White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/health_care/
Health Care for America Now: http://www.healthcareforamericanow.org/
Commonwealth Fund: http://www.commonwealthfund.org/
Institute of Medicine: http://tinyurl.com/dm8gnn
Here is the link to the story: http://money.aol.com/article/americas-uninsured-havent-shown/394319
We are clearly in need of health care reform in this country - those who have jobs that offer healthcare can stay insured and the over 50 million of us without insurance could "buy" into a cheap group plan. That way we would not have exhorbitant copays and we would not have to wait months to see a specialist. That is, of course, one person's opinion.
It is unfortunate that those of us who are not insured do not have the time, means and wherewithal to lobby effectively - we are simply too busy living life, holding one, two or three part time jobs in order to make ends meet.
Here is an excerpt from the article: "The number of uninsured has grown to an estimated 50 million people because of the recession. Even so, advocates in the halls of Congress are rarely the uninsured themselves. The most visible are groups that represent people who have insurance, usually union members and older people. In the last election, only 10 percent of registered voters said they were uninsured.
The grass-roots group Health Care for America Now plans to bring as many as 15,000 people to Washington this year to lobby Congress for guaranteed coverage. Campaign director Richard Kirsch expects most to have health insurance.
"We would never want to organize the uninsured by themselves because Americans see the problem as affordability, and that is the key thing," he said.
Besides, added Kirsch, the uninsured are too busy scrambling to make ends meet. Many are self-employed; others are holding two or three part-time jobs. "They may not have a lot of time to be activists," he said.
If you want to get involved with this issue such as I am going to now after reading this article, here are links to the White House, agencies and groups that might be helpful:
White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/health_care/
Health Care for America Now: http://www.healthcareforamericanow.org/
Commonwealth Fund: http://www.commonwealthfund.org/
Institute of Medicine: http://tinyurl.com/dm8gnn
Here is the link to the story: http://money.aol.com/article/americas-uninsured-havent-shown/394319
We are clearly in need of health care reform in this country - those who have jobs that offer healthcare can stay insured and the over 50 million of us without insurance could "buy" into a cheap group plan. That way we would not have exhorbitant copays and we would not have to wait months to see a specialist. That is, of course, one person's opinion.
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