 "Photo: Eduardo Herrera | Valley Star")
The passing of the Affordable Health Care for America Act finally initiates the wholesale change in American health care that most citizens have been waiting for since President Obama took office.
There seems to be a sense of confusion of what the bill truly represents since most Americans don't have the need, want, or attention span to read the full 1,990 page bill.
The major talking points among others regarding the bill are the fear of government sponsorship of abortions and the government take over of health care.
It's fine that republicans oppose the bill seeing that it's written by democrats and won with a democratic majority. Republican mouthpieces are far from reproach if they think they can openly criticize certain facets of the bill when there is a clear contradiction of what they say the bill means and what the bill is.
According to a CBS poll, 72 percent of the general public support government-sponsored health care as long as it's competing with private insurers. H.R. 3962 does that by giving consumers the benefit of more accessible health care.
This bill restricts insurance companies from denying coverage to people with a preexisting condition or charging higher premiums on gender or medical history. While it does make it riskier for insurance companies who might actually have to give back some money from those high premiums, this ultimately will lead to more profit for them with more customers. The proposed health care plan would lead to 96 percent of U.S. citizens receiving health care according to the bill. Also under this plan the government intends to provide subsidies for those who cannot afford insurance, leading to even more consumers.
Another misconception is that this would lead to government-run health care only and eliminate private health insurance. This is especially important considering the legislation provides that most Americans carry qualifying health insurance or possibly face penalty. As unwieldy as that sounds, it really isn't. The purpose of this is to have more people contributing to health care, that way everyone's price is lower to due such high volume.
The penalty is what has people scared. If someone cannot truly afford health care, there is a "hardship exemption" that they can apply for; that penalty applies to people who can afford health care and intentionally choose not to get healthcare. Finally, if someone has insurance they can keep what they have.
Eventually, this version of health care reform will be passed one way or another regardless of Joe Lieberman's filibuster posturing when it comes to the senate vote. According to the Census Bureau, 47 million Americans do not have insurance, with the number escalating. It's time to put away political rhetoric from both sides and bring modern health care to all Americans.
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