Yes We Can Reform Healthcare

This Sunday the US Congress passed a groundbreaking health reform bill. The reform bill seeks to extend health insurance coverage and control medical costs. Firstly, the bill includes an expansion of Medicaid and SCHIP. This means that more severly impoverished families will receive goverment health insurance. The bill also hopes to improve options for people looking to purchase health insurance individually. The bill established a cooperative where consumers can go to purchase health insurance. This is especially important for people that are unemployed, self-employed or do not work full-time. Also, health insurance companies will no longer be able to deny anyone insurance because of a pre-existing condition or high-risk situation. In order to create an insurance group that reflects the population (both high and low risk), the bill also requires that everyone purchase insurance. Those who choose not to follow this mandate will pay extra taxes. In order to help people afford insurance plans the government plans to subsidize insurance payments for low-income families and individuals. There will also be employer "pay or play" provisions which means that an insurer will either have to provide insurance for its employees or pay into a government pool. In addition, there will be tax increases for high income (above $250,000 per year) individuals.

The bill was passed with no republican support. The republican party takes issue with this reform both because it generally opposes big government and because opposition is a good way to undermine President Obama's efforts as a reformer. Although some democrats felt that this bill was not radical enough, most supported the effort to reduce the number of uninsured people and the efficacy of our health care system. Although many insurance companies do not like the government interfering in their business and not allowing them to refuse consumers with pre-exisiting conditions, the mandate to buy health insurance does greatly increase their consumer population. Health care providers are an important stakeholder group that has a somewhat complex view of this bill. On one hand, expanding insurance coverage helps doctors be able to provide quality care. However, there is some discomfort with government setting limits on how they care for their patients (i.e. prescriptions, expensive diagnostic tests). The US population can be broken down into many small interest groups. However, generally uninsured people should welcome a solution to their problem. Most Americans should recognize the overall good this will bring the country. Also, there will be some opposition from people who are already well-insured and those in high-income groups.

Overall, I think this is a very important bill. The healthcare system in this country has been struggling and changes were definitely necessary. This reform may help to lower the huge number of uninsured people in this country and to increase the quality of health outcomes for every dollar spent. Personally, I would have liked to see some more radical reforms (i.e. the inclusion of a public option or a larger emphasis on reducing administrative costs). However, I recognize that these would have been politically unpallatable and therefore were not an option this time. I think that this bill is definitely a step in the right direction. Hopefully the bill will lead to health improvements and the public will form a more positive opinion of government involvement in healthcare. The provision in this bill that allows children to stay on their parents insurance until 26 will most likely effect me. Also, the fines for those who choose not to buy insurance would definitely persuade me to stay insured through my 20s.