I feel great, knowing that passage of the health care reform bill is virtually assured in the House. All the work and money millions of people put into electing Obama and a solid Democratic majority is paying off for the American people.
It's a big moment, just as the passage of Social Security and Civil Rights legislation was. Soon the United States will be well on the road to assuring that everyone is able to get high quality needed medical care at a reasonable cost.
Political junkie that I am, around 1:00 pm I sat outside a grocery store here in Salem for ten minutes or so, listening to CNN on satellite radio. I wanted to hear Rep. Bart Stupak's press conference.
Stupak is an avid anti-abortion Democrat. He represents several other House members who weren't happy with the abortion related language in the Senate bill, which can't be changed by reconciliation.
It's hard to understand what Stupak and company were so upset about. The House and Senate bills take a similar stand on prohibiting federal funding of abortion. And Catholic hospitals are happy with the Senate language.
Now that President Obama has agreed to issue an executive order confirming that current federal policy (Hyde amendment) won't change, Stupak says he will vote yes for health care reform.
It was moving to hear Stupak and other anti-abortion Democrats speak. They made a lot of sense when they pointed out how "pro life" the health care bill is.
Millions of women and children currently don't have health insurance and suffer the consequences: disease, disability, death. Lack of adequate prenatal care causes many babies to be "aborted" through miscarriage, or otherwise have problems reaching a healthy full-term development.
Right away, after Obama signs the final bill, Americans will benefit in important ways:
Insurance
companies will be barred from dropping people from coverage when they
get sick.Lifetime coverage limits will be eliminated and annual limits
are to be restricted.Insurers
will be barred from excluding children for coverage because of
pre-existing conditions.Young
adults will be able to stay on their parents' health plans until the age
of 26. Many health plans currently drop dependents from coverage when
they turn 19 or finish college.Uninsured
adults with pre-existing conditions will be able to obtain health
coverage through a new program that will expire once new insurance
exchanges begin operating in 2014.A
temporary reinsurance program is created to help companies maintain
health coverage for early retirees between the ages of 55 and 64. This
also expires in 2014.
Medicare
drug beneficiaries who fall into the "doughnut hole" coverage gap will
get a $250 rebate. The bill eventually closes that gap which currently
begins after $2,700 is spent on drugs. Coverage starts again after
$6,154 is spent.
A tax credit
becomes available for some small businesses to help provide coverage for
workers.
And in a few years other provisions will take effect — bringing health insurance to at least thirty million Americans, saving tens of thousands of lives.
So yes, progressives — and everyone else who has supported health insurance reform — should be proud today.
Every month of every year we suffer the equivalent of a 9/11 attack: over 3,000 Americans die because they don't have health insurance.
Download Health-insurance-and-mortality-in-US-adults
But not for much longer. Which is why it's such a great day.
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OMG are we screwed……. were headed for a civil war……
start stock pilling dried food’s and water and clean your firearms and find a good place to hide cause when it hit’s it’s going to tear the country apart….
but tell me this when the thousands of people who cant afford health insurance and are put in prison where the hell are we going to put them????? in our already over crowed prisons…..
man what have we done………
New plan given to White House doubles savings from health care bill and pays for public option and cuts the carbon footprint of gov buildings by 50%
http://whitecollargreenspace.blogspot.com/
Here is a major proposal I just shared with GSA, GAO, EPA, Senator Levin’s office and professors at Georgetown and GWU.
The fact that the federal government uses over a billion square feet of office at an efficiency level of only 30% borders on malfeasance from a budget and environmental viewpoint. Someone needs to let the White House know there is a way to pay for the public option.
This proposal would save the Federal government close to $50 billion per year enough to pay for the public option with only an executive order. We should get more congressman to sign on if we can show it is paid for and requires no new taxes or fees. New plan cuts overhead costs & carbon footprint of white collar workers by 50%. We can no longer afford to let all white-collar workers that still have jobs work banker’s hours when we can work two shifts per day in government and private industry and cut our overhead costs in half. This simple paradigm shifts solves three problems: It jumpstarts economy and fights poverty, cuts pollution, reduces budget deficits.
As an American, I would like to present my answer the the health care mess, global warming which actually should be called over-pollution, unemployment, empty buildings and state budget shortfalls.
The Federal government pays for well over one billion square feet of office space. Most office space is very expensive yet it sits unused 70% of the time because most white collar work is scheduled for only one shift per day or only 45 hours out of a 168 hour week. 30% efficiency is completely unacceptable in today’s economic and ecological environment. Most buildings are open for 12 hours each day from 6 am to 6 pm. By keeping buildings open an additional 4 or 5 hours each day, we could schedule 2 shifts of white collar workers, thus increasing our efficiency by 100% and reducing our carbon footprint by 50%. We could cut the cost of overhead for each employee by 40 to 50%, half as much infrastructure, half as much office space, half as many computers and supplies. With the overhead for each of our 2 million Federal workers approaching $50,000 per year, the potential savings could be $50 billion per year, enough to pay for health care reform.
Dear Government,
I have every confidence you will be able to manage health care efficiently as evidenced by your past successes:
The U.S. Post Service was established in 1775. You have had 234 years to get it right and it is broke.
Social Security was established in 1935. You have had 74 years to get it right and it is broke.
Fannie Mae was established in 1938. You have had 71 years to get it right and it is broke.
War on Poverty started in 1964. You have had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to “the poor” and they only want more.
Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. You have had 44 years to get it right and they are broke.
Freddie Mac was established in 1970. You have had 39 years to get it right and it is broke.
The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion a year and we import more oil than ever before. You had 32 years to get it right and it is an abysmal failure.
Why should I worry?