It seemed like a moment that no one thought would come. President Barack Obama standing at a desk with over 20 pens, signing into law a health care bill that took months of revisions and bitter debate. Congratulating Obama, Vice President Joe Biden smiled and told him this was a “Big [expletive] deal” What many students and, honestly, most Americans fail to understand is how much of a big deal this piece of legislation is.
The argument that Obama should have first focused on providing jobs for the American public is an invalid one.
Many people are staring illness in the face, hoping that their cold will not turn into anything serious because they cannot afford rising co-payments. Those who lack insurance hope with all their hearts that they never need emergency care, care that can often put them thousands of dollars in debt.
The percentage of the unemployed often reflects the growing number of the uninsured. When layoffs occur, people lose their jobs and their benefits. The legislation allows 16 million more people to qualify for Medicaid-government funded low-cost health care, allowing the impoverished and potentially some of the unemployed to cease avoiding the doctor.
Those who are employed often have no health care offered to them; the new bill provides these Americans with subsidies to help purchase good, affordable health care.
People with pre-existing conditions would not face discrimination from insurance companies. With enhanced regulation, the public would know what their policies truly cover instead of finding out at the last minute that a procedure was not covered.
For the average college student, the benefits are also there. Many students lack health insurance once they get too old for coverage under their parents’ plans. Now, not only will they have a chance to purchase their own affordable health insurance, they will also be able to stay on those plans until they are 26.
Ultimately, health care reform is not something to be taken lightheartedly. Nor is it something to oppose based on it’s $938 billion price tag. The estimate, which was provided by the Congressional Budget Office, would reduce the federal deficit $138 billion over the same period of 10 years. The price tag may seem imposing but the benefits are far reaching beyond simply providing coverage to the estimated 30 million Americans who lack health insurance.
A few governors and state attorneys general are threatening to file suit against the health care bill, which brings up the valid question. What within the bill scares them so much that they would sue? Any politician who wants to take away their constituents ability to receive better health care in the name of bitter partisanship is baffling.
With all the rhetoric being slung around by opponents, many Americans still think there is a move to make all healthcare government owned. The country is not moving in the same direction as Canada, Italy, and other countries that provide public healthcare and do it on the same level of skill as American doctors for less money. In that sense, healthcare reform opponents had succeeded, for now.
This health care legislation can provide countless benefits. True, it is an imperfect bill, not quite at the level that the president and many Americans desired, but isn’t some progress better than no progress
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