For the last year I have written blogs, written and called my Senators and Representatives, gone to a town hall meeting, talk and argued with my friends and family, watch some of the most boring debates, read Bills that were thousands of pages long, disseminated, analyzed said Bills, listened to speeches, and followed pundits from both sides.
I did all those things for one reason. Because I believe that the Health Care system in this country has become fatally flawed. It has failed person after person, myself included.
Finally, tonight the first major step in the effort to fix this travesty has been taken and we WON!
The President of the USA has been sent the first of the Heath Care/Insurance Reform Bills.
more below the fold
Now please don't misunderstand me. The Senate Bill that was just passed is far far from perfect. In fact if it were to stand on it's own it would Suck. But here are some of the things it addresses effective the minute the President Signs it - http://www.dems.gov/...
The Top Ten Immediate Benefits You’ll Get When Health Care Reform Passes
March 16, 2010
As soon as health care passes, the American people will see immediate benefits. The legislation will:
* Prohibit pre-existing condition exclusions for children in all new plans;
* Provide immediate access to insurance for uninsured Americans who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition through a temporary high-risk pool;
* Prohibit dropping people from coverage when they get sick in all individual plans;
* Lower seniors prescription drug prices by beginning to close the donut hole;
* Offer tax credits to small businesses to purchase coverage;
* Eliminate lifetime limits and restrictive annual limits on benefits in all plans;
* Require plans to cover an enrollee’s dependent children until age 26;
* Require new plans to cover preventive services and immunizations without cost-sharing;
* Ensure consumers have access to an effective internal and external appeals process to appeal new insurance plan decisions;
* Require premium rebates to enrollees from insurers with high administrative expenditures and require public disclosure of the percent of premiums applied to overhead costs.
By enacting these provisions right away, and others over time, we will be able to lower costs for everyone and give all Americans and small businesses more control over their health care choices.
So now what? Next up is the Senate. In addition to passing the Senate Bill tonight the House also passed a Budget Reconciliation Bill that deals with the financial aspect of this Legislation. It contains things like a major change in how Student Loans are repaid. I will have more about that one soon but for now it feels great to know that after 8 very long years of living in a society that moved backwards nearly to a totalitarian state we are finally beginning to move forward.
Yay for progress!