The necessity of healthcare reform is real. While what we got was neither the single payer system nor Medicare for all that most of us that understand the economics and morality of healthcare insurance, it presented a good start. Going forward, we have codified some form of Universal Healthcare and the implicit acceptance that healthcare is a right.
I am a small business owner with a wife that has Lupus, a preexisting condition, and a daughter in college. My situation necessitated that I carry 3 health insurance policies. There is a high risk policy for my wife with a $5,000 deductible, a catastrophic policy for my daughter and me with a $10,000 deductible, and a college policy for incidentals for my daughter in college. Based on those numbers it is evident that inasmuch as we have all these policies, we still pay most of our healthcare out of pocket. These three policies are costing us north of $1,200 monthly and we must still pay for my wife’s and daughter’s medicines, doctor visits, etc. mostly out of pocket. I exercise a lot and take a lot of supplements and hardly ever see a doctor.
Today my wife walked into my office with an insurance update to her high risk policy. I thought she was going to tell me of a rate increase or a cancellation. After all this is Rick Perry’s state and he says he is not implementing Obamacare. To my chagrin it was a reduction in the cost of her high risk pool insurance. Of course last week I received a rebate check from my catastrophic policy because the insurance companies were out of the 20% compliance with Obamacare.
This is the first time in my life that I have received a reduction in my insurance rates or received a rebate check.
Many on the Right continue to talk about repeal and replace. When President Clinton attempted a more comprehensive but rather complex healthcare reform, the Heritage Foundation and the Republicans proposed a policy similar to Obamacare/Romneycare. When the entire government was in control of Republicans no attempt was ever made to reform health insurance. President Obama against the wishes of most progressive liberals created a Republican sanctioned private insurance based bill and they claim it is socialism and government takeover of healthcare, a complete lie.
Our healthcare system needed reform and Obamacare begins it. The bill prevents healthcare companies from throwing you off your policy if you get sick. It prevents insurance companies from denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions. It allows children up to 26 to be on their parents policies. It ensures insurance companies provide screenings as a part of the policy at no further cost. Click here to learn the facts.