By Merlyn Mathew
In a landmark 60-39 vote on Christmas Eve 2009 by the United States Senate, a bill was passed to guarantee health insurance access to millions of Americans and to change the system completely. What a fitting end to the year and Barack Obama’s first year as President of the United States.
A crucial decision that many Americans and Democrats have been waiting for decades has finally been finalized. Last month, the House of Representatives also passed a bill by a vote of 220-215 that proposed similar ideas.
What is the importance of such a bill? Why is there such a media circus around this topic? This bill aims to require most Americans to gain health insurance and adds 15 million individuals to Medicare. It is estimated by the Congressional Budget Office that about 31 million uninsured people would be covered under this bill if it becomes law.
While it is probable that this bill will be accepted by both the House and Senate, there is still a problem ahead. It has become increasingly difficult to get support from both the Democrat and Republican parties. One of the main issues from the Republican side is the introduction of new taxes and fees, an $871 billion cost to the government in the next decade. But Democrats argue this may be necessary and it has taken too long for a majority to agree on this issue. Past attempts to pass bills have failed and the Democrats have realized it and are trying to seize this moment. Another hurdle to overcome is whether or not this bill would be allowed to cover abortion as well.
President Obama mentioned on that day that he wanted to make sure that the insurance companies were held responsible. Indeed such hostility towards the health insurance industry has been growing recently and many Democratic senators repeated that sentiment, remembering the horrific tales told to them by the American people.
According to The New York Times, “Under the bill, insurers could not deny coverage because of a person’s medical condition; could not charge higher premiums because of a person’s sex or health status; and could not rescind coverage when a person becomes sick or disabled. The government would, in effect, limit the profits of insurers by requiring them to spend at least 80 to 85 cents of every premium dollar on medical care”.
When money is becoming an issue, the bill proposes that any American can compare plans and pick one that is suitable for his or her needs and buy insurance with tax credit to help with such a cost. It is the hope of the masterminds of this piece of legislation that both health care practitioners and hospitals take an effort to be responsible for patient care. Time will only tell if Congress is headed toward the right path…
Photo courtesy: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/25/health/policy/25health.html?hp
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