AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

(Twenty Ten Theme, Ezra Klein, The New Yorker)

(Jana Kasperkevic, Steve Strauss, Green Bay Press Gazette)

(Janet Adamy, Evan Perez, Brandon Stewart, Russ Limbaugh, Frazer Chronicle)

 

Come on people, let’s get real, right up front we need to get a thing or two straight, first and foremost the health care act that is now the law of the land isn’t called Obama-Care, nope, anybody who calls the act by that name would not only be wrong, but would be wasting their time as well as anybody around them who might be dumb enough to listen. The act is called the Affordable Care Act (or HR 3962) and was passed way back in 2010!

 

The bill carries with it a boat-load of controversy; it will implement health coverage for all Americans, and fine those people who refuse the care package. Of course our politicians dickered around with the verbiage, and the meaning of some of the details, but in the end, through a reconciliation process adapted a Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. (Reconciliation is a legislative process of the U.S. Senate intended to allow consideration of a budget bill with debate limited twenty hours under Senate rules.)

 

No matter what the health care act is called, to millions of Americans the law offers medical care hope to a mostly disillusioned people living in adverse poverty, or those folks who toil in low paying jobs. Many of these people use emergency medical care as their doctor appointments, and do not receive follow-up medical conciliation.

 

The pros and the cons of the Affordable Care Act will undoubtedly be debated for years as the different implementation schedules come into play. One thing is clear…..crystal clear, the act is going to cost money, trillions of dollars…..what exactly do you expect when forty, fifty or sixty million people come under the umbrella of health care that weren’t there before the act took place.

 

It’s really funny how ignorant some people can be whenever there is a new way of doing things, they say change does not come easy, and off what I’ve heard and read, I have come to appreciate what change really does mean to some people.

 

THE BUBBLE PEOPLE

Without wasting too much time (it is Packer Sunday), let’s calmly examine several of the issues with regards to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Number one, without debate, the United States IS a developed country…..it’s a fact. The country prides itself as a progressive world leader in the Democratic way of life, and as such we fight for the freedom and safety of human-kind.

 

In addition to supporting the peoples around the world, and their perceived climb towards the ultimate perceived utopia that the western world lives, the United States almost tithes the undeveloped countries of the world.

 

For as many as 80 million people to be either under-insured or have no health insurance at all must seem like a mighty paradox to world leaders. Now I’m not worried about our perception to other people on the world stage, hell I’m all for more isolationism, however our lack of taking care of our own people does seem like a huge contradiction, and I can’t even guess at what message it gives?

 

Universal health care is not a new concept; European countries started the practice more than a hundred years ago. The battle here in the United States has raged off and on for well over a hundred years, and the supporters of the idea have switched sides on many different occasions.

 

For a country to be strong, it first must have a solid base of health care…..believe it or not, so that its people are truly fit health wise. Conservatives, business, and organizations opposed to an all encompassing health care plan are fooling only themselves…..people will beg, borrow or steal to obtain the care that they or their families need.

 

For me, with high blood pressure and type 2 diabetics, and my wife with an auto immune disease, and both retired, medical cost and health care are a paramount concern for both of us. We are on a fixed income and rely on Medicare and a supplement that we pay for.

 

If medical prices continue their escalation there will come a time when we won’t be able to meet our medical responsibilities…..at the time, exactly what are we supposed to do? Those of you who oppose any kind of universal health care programs are little more than whistling in the breeze, and truly are living in the bubble.

 

ALL ENCLUSIVE HEALTH CARE ISN’T A NEW IDEA IN THE U.S.

For over a century some American organizations, politicians, labor unions and advocates of a universal care thought that they were on the verge of success with their plans, yet each time they faced defeat. The evolution of these efforts has made for an intriguing lesson in American history, ideology and character.

 

European countries where some of the first country’s with compulsory sickness insurance for workers beginning in Germany in 1883; other countries included Austria, Hungary, Norway, Britain, Russia, and the Netherlands followed Germany’s lead all the way through 1912. Sweden, 1891, Denmark, 1892, and Switzerland all subsidized the mutual benefit societies that workers formed among themselves.

 

The primary reason for the emergence of these programs in Europe was income stabilization and protection against wage loss of sickness rather than payment for medical expenses, which came later. Programs were not universal in the beginning, and were conceived as a means to maintain income and buying political allegiance of the workers.

 

Different U.S. Presidents had their own idea about protecting the American people with some sort of accessible health care programs with costs that everybody could afford. In the beginning U.S. labor organizations trumpeted the cause as well as the American Medical Association, (AMA) but after Theodore Roosevelt’s term in office, it would be 20 years until there was another serious push for health care insurance.

 

World wars, political atmosphere, and public attitude all worked against any sort of Universal health care until 1964 when President Lynden Johnson’s Medicare and Medicaid programs were established to help those that needed help. The AMA countered by proposing an eldercare plan which was voluntary insurance with broader benefits and physician services. In response the government plan expanded to include physician services as well as additional benefits and is still followed to this day.

 

For private concerns to lobby to hinder a universal type health insurance and for politicians and special interest groups oppose the concept for personal gain is reprehensible…..and just wrong spirited. It’s time for everybody to get on board with the Affordable Care Act…..so that we can move on to other issues…..like the cost of war, or our intelligence programs.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!