New healthcare bill causes nationwide controversy
Freshman Alex Barnes
November 24, 2009 • written by Laura Sledge
Filed under News
Lately the media has been buzzing with talk of the new healthcare bill that would undoubtedly affect a large percentage of America. After passing in the House of Representatives, the Affordable Health Care for America Act recently is now up for debate and revision in the Senate.
The debate is no longer specifically constricted to party lines, as three Democratic senators currently are unsure whether they will vote for the bill. According to the New York Times, their decisions could be the deciding factor in this passage of the bill.
But what is the Affordable Health Care for America Act really all about?
Basically, the goal of the bill is to provide affordable healthcare to all Americans—particularly those who are currently uninsured and cannot afford it—by increasing competition in the healthcare market and presenting more choices for those who need healthcare.
According to the House bill, employers would have more options to provide health insurance or benefits for their employees and would be required to meet a certain amount of coverage for each employee. Small business employers with an annual payroll below $500,000 would be exempt from this provision.
The bill aims to help people who have limitations and disabilities to get long-term healthcare, including personal nurses and professional health aid for general health maintenance.
The Act will also expand Medicaid, so that more families in poverty and low-income situations will be eligible for benefits. The bill aims to improve Medicare for the elderly and people with disabilities as well.
Another major feature of the bill is the public health insurance option, which provides for government-funded healthcare plans that will compete with private insurers. In this plan, people can choose to utilize government coverage if they are not insured personally or through their jobs.
Originally, the bill included government-funded abortions and coverage of illegal immigrants. These clauses were amended, however, when many representatives would not vote for the bill without these changes.
The lawmakers plan to use the bill to require privately-owned insurance companies to accept a larger number of people for coverage, and to prevent insurers from refusing to cover an individual due to medical history and illness.
If the bill passes, healthcare will no longer be a matter left to privately-owned businesses—it will be a government-run process that will cost roughly $1 trillion to implement over the course of 10 years.
Along with the extra bursary for government provided healthcare, the bill will provide more funding for public health centers and research, as well as data collection procedures to better classify citizens by means of race, ethnicity, sex, age, and other identifying factors.
Some from the Democratic Party plan to fight for the bill, particularly because the President views it as a very important program to execute.
“He [Obama] made it a very strong, clear priority,” Democratic Representative Henry Waxman of California said. “He made a mandate from the American people to pass legislation that would provide every American with affordable coverage.”
Many Democrats were overjoyed when the House’s version passed, as well as when the Senate voted to proceed with the bill.
“Tonight we have the opportunity, the historic opportunity to reform healthcare once and for all,” said Senator Max Baucus, a Democrat from Montana, according to the New York Times. “History is knocking on the door. Let’s open it. Let’s begin the debate.”
Republicans, however, primarily oppose the proposed Act, claiming that government-run healthcare will cause job loss and raise taxes.
After Saturday’s vote to move forward with the bill, the Senate is currently reviewing and working on its version of the bill, a fact which angered many Republicans.
“This 2,000-page bill will drive up the cost of health care insurance and medical care, not down. This is not true health care reform, and it is not what the American people want,” Senator Mike Crapo, a Republican from Idaho said. “This bill will result in higher premiums and higher health care costs for Americans — period.”
Independent Senator of Connecticut Joseph Lieberman plans to use the filibuster, or “talk the bill to death” method, to put off the voting and hinder its passing as long as the bill features the public option plan.
“I think a lot of people may think that the public option is free. It’s not,” Lieberman said. “It’s going to cost the taxpayers and people that have health insurance now, and if it doesn’t, it’s going to add terribly to the national debt.”
Should this bill pass the Senate, it will be sent to a committee to iron out the discrepancies between the House bill and the Senate bill, at which point it will be forwarded to President Obama for passage.
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The health care reform bill aka Socialized Medicine from my opinion isn’t going to solve anything. Why do I think that? Lets abeam the numbers.
“…government run that will cost roughly 1 trillion….”
The US National Debt is:
12,056, 439, XXX, XXX. The X’s indicate that it is still rising. If you want to see the data go to USdebtclock.org
It all runs down to the numbers. I honestly don’t think America can afford it.