By Greg Rabidoux
The debate over health care reform started with over-heated town hall meetings, many punctuated with loud, angry outbursts.
It ended with an ugly confrontation between Tea Party protesters and several Members of Congress on the west front of the U. S. Capitol. In the middle was an often bitter discussion over the future health of our nation.
Late Sunday, March 21, the U. S. House of Representatives, by a narrow vote (219-212), passed sweeping health care reform legislation. Far from perfect, it is a major step towards fixing our broken health care system.
The new law will greatly alter our system of care and provide coverage to millions of uninsured Americans. It seems destined to sit alongside the historic 1965 Medicare program in both its meaning and scope.
The debate itself was long (over a year), often fraught with deliberate distortions (“death panels” anyone?) and seemed a lifetime removed from the last time the subject was broached (“Hillarycare” is now Madame Secretary of State).
But before the pundits and prognosticators start obsessing about who won, who lost and the political price of passage (here in Tennessee, Democratic representatives Cooper, Gordon and Cohen voted for, their fellow Democrats Tanner and Davis against, and Republicans Wamp, Blackburn, Roe and Duncan against), let’s take a brief look at what this legislation will actually mean.
Nationally, the reform will eliminate pre-existing conditions as a reason for denial of coverage, close the Medicare “donut hole” for seniors, make recision the practice of dropping individuals once they get sick, unlawful, create an exchange where individuals can purchase policies and finally provide coverage to millions of currently uninsured Americans. In Tennessee alone, roughly 900,000 Tennesseans will no longer be without any basic health care coverage.
In Tennessee’s Congressional District 7, where I am a candidate for U. S. Congress, reform means improved coverage for over 500,000 residents, tax credits for up to 150,000 families and 13,200 small businesses to help with coverage and nearly 100,000 Medicare beneficiaries will no longer endure the huge gap between drug costs and subsidies.
Additionally, about 9,000 residents with pre-existing conditions will no longer be denied care and nearly 50,000 students will now be able to obtain coverage on their parents’ insurance plans. There will also be funding for 12 community health centers in the district and the cost of uncompensated care will be reduced by an estimated $42 million annually.
But perhaps just as importantly, tragedies like the parents of a little boy locally who had to hold a barbecue to try and raise funds to pay off their several hundred thousand dollar debt they had incurred due to his pre-existing illness and denial of coverage, will be a thing of the past.
My opponent, Marsha Blackburn called the passage of the bill in part a “death to freedom.” The only thing that died a bit more Sunday, March 21, was reasoned and informed debate. That seems to happen a lot when Mrs. Blackburn weighs in on important national matters.
Ironic really, since this reform will mean a renewed chance at life for so many Americans and Tennesseans who desperately need it.
Loading ...
March 24th, 2010 on 5:48 PM
But 400 BILLION on unconstitutional health care is ok?
Prescription Drug Benefit.
The final version (conference report) of H.R. 1 would create a prescription drug benefit for Medicare recipients. Beginning in 2006, prescription coverage would be available to seniors through private insurers for a monthly premium estimated at $35. There would be a $250 annual deductible, then 75 percent of drug costs up to $2,250 would be reimbursed. Drug costs greater than $2,250 would not be covered until out-ofpocket expenses exceeded $3,600, after which 95 percent of drug costs would be reimbursed. Low-income recipients would receive more subsidies than other seniors by paying lower premiums, having smaller deductibles, and making lower co-payments for each prescription. The total cost of the new prescription drug benefit would be limited to the $400 billion that Congress had budgeted earlier this year for the first 10 years of this new entitlement program. The House adopted the conference report on H.R. 1 on November 22, 2003 by a vote of 220 to 215 (Roll Call 669).
Marsha Blackburn Voted FOR this bill.
Marsha Blackburn is a Hypocrite.
Marsha Blackburn is my Congressman.
See her unconstitutional votes at :
http://tinyurl.com/qhayna
Mickey
March 24th, 2010 on 10:50 PM
I am so grateful to the courageous Democrats for passing HCR. I just wish there had not been so many Republican amendments to the bill. I am always skeptical when Republicans want something—it almost always means the people lose and Big Business wins. I find it funny that they want to repeal the bill now and add back the 500 million cut from Medicare. But it all makes sense because this is the amount that was to be cut for fraud and abuse and administration fees by insurance companies. And, they certainly want their buddies to make money even if it means raising the national debt by half a billion—but only when it comes to their friends and donors.
March 24th, 2010 on 10:58 PM
Did anybody happen to catch Ezra Klein’s analogy of Marsha Blackburn’s comments about the healthcare bill as “inane hyperbole”? It’s bad when everybody in the country dismisses her, and it’s not just the sensible people of Tennessee.