There has been a push in recent days to get a clearer picture of what the Health Care Reform proposal has to offer the American citizen. During the year long debate, the Democratic majority and the President lost the message war as the Republican Party of NO and the astroturf groups orchestrated by Big Pharma took to the streets and the airwaves chanting discouraging slogans and scaring uninformed seniors.So as we head into the final week or so before the House votes for the already passed Senate Healthcare Bill, the public is getting one last blast of corrective language to better inform anyone who still has the desire to learn what's to come.
Americans across this country agree that our health care system is broken: Unaccountable insurance companies ration care, soaring premiums cripple the budgets of our businesses and families, and vital care remains out of reach for far too many. The time for change has come. President Obama’s final proposal incorporates the best ideas from both parties to put Americans in control of our own health care.
Here is what Obama's Plan is expected to do:
PROTECT AMERICANS FROM INSURANCE COMPANY ABUSES
• You will never be denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions
• You will never be hit with arbitrary premium hikes
• You will never see your coverage revoked just when you get sick or injured
• You will never face unlimited out-of-pocket expenses for your care
GUARANTEE AFFORDABLE CHOICES
• If you like your current doctor and you like your current plan, you keep them.
• Uninsured individuals and small business owners will become part of a powerful negotiating pool, just like members of Congress and other federal employees, lowering prices and increasing choice.
• Struggling middle-class families will receive a tax credit to make coverage even more affordable – the largest middle class tax cut for health care in history.
REDUCE THE COST OF CARE FOR OUR FAMILIES, BUSINESSES & GOVERNMENT
• We’ll save billions of dollars every year by reducing waste and abuse in our current system.
• We’ll save and create millions of jobs, raise wages and strengthen the economy.
• We’ll cut the deficit by nearly $1 trillion over two decades.
So you may ask, what if our elected leaders do nothing?
*Up to 17 million more people will be uninsured by 2019 than today.
*The average family's health care costs will nearly double by 2020, from $13,000 to $24,000 — meaning they'll be paying a quarter of their income toward health care costs.
*Insurers can continue the massive and arbitrary premium rate increases we've heard about recently — such as Anthem Blue Cross raising rates for customers in California by nearly 40%, and rates in Illinois going up by as much as 60%.
*As many as 275,000 people could die prematurely over the next 10 years because they don't have health insurance.
*Health care costs will take up a staggering amount of our national budget. In 1960, it was 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), last year it was 17 percent. Costs will reach 21 percent of our economy by 2020 if we fail to act.
*Rapidly rising costs will make it harder for employers — particularly small businesses — to provide quality health insurance to employees, leading many to drop coverage or shift to plans that cover less.
*Even those who have insurance today will be less secure, and more likely to lose coverage if they switch jobs or lose their job due to rising costs on the individual market or being denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition.
So I don't have to add much more to the issue as a local Blogger. Frankly, we don't have much in the way of influence in the closing days of this debate. Here, I have expressed my concerns on the Insurance Industry dictated mess from the Senate and the lack of spine in the House. What I find amazing, is that support for the Public Option is growing at this late date. Simply amazing.
Reid has indicated that, if the House sends a reconciliation package that includes the Public Option, the supposed 53 votes in the Senate may have the opportunity to pass that too. We shall see.
