What's In The House Health Care Bill?

It seems like all we hear about on the news is the politics of health care. Unfortunately the media seems far more interested in the dog & pony show that is our political system today rather than in actually covering the facts of the health care debate. Do CNN or Fox ever actually tell people what's in the House Health Care Bill that was passed last Saturday?

Since the news media isn't doing their job, I guess I'll have to do it for them. This is what's actually in the House Health Care Bill passed by Congress:

+ A ban on lifetime limits which currently bankrupt many sick people.

+ A ban on coverage denials based on "pre-existing conditions."

+ A ban on premium disparity based on health status and gender.

+ An individual mandate that would require people to buy health insurance.

+ An employer mandate that would require companies to cover their employees. Small businesses would be exempted from this requirement.

+ Funding to create an insurance exchange to serve Americans who are not covered by an employer based insurance plan.

+ A government insurance option that would compete against private plans in that insurance exchange. Only those who do not already have health insurance would be eligible to choose it. No one would ever be forced to use the government option if they don't want to use it.

+ Health insurance subsidies to help households earning up to $88,000 per year.

+ Medicaid expansion which would provide free health care to all Americans with incomes below 150% of the federal poverty level. This would provide health care to millions of Americans who are currently without health care coverage.

+ A new tax on those making over $500,000 a year (that's over $1 million for a household) to help cover the costs. No one earning less than half a million dollars a year would see any new taxes under this plan.

Strong Support For Public Option

Those of us who have looked at the health care reform issue closely know that the public option is an essential part of meaningful health care reform (and yes the current US health care system is a disaster.)

What may not be so clear from the way the mainstream (CNN etc) and right wing (Fox News) news media is covering the story is that the public option also has overwhelming support among the the American people in general and among doctors in particular.

These are the numbers from the latest CBS/NY Times poll:

Overall Americans: 65% support the public option, only 26% are opposed.

Democrats: 81% support, 12% oppose. (All Democrats in the Senate ought to look at that real closely.)

Republicans: 47% support, 42% oppose. (Yes, even Republicans support the public option!)

Independents: 61% support, 30% oppose. (The all important swing voters, they're for it by a 2 to 1 margin!)

It's obvious that if the Senate is doing the will of the people rather than the will of the insurance companies that the public option will be included as a part of their final bill. If it is not then they shouldn't expect to get re-elected next time around.

Among doctors support for the public option is even stronger than it is among the population as a whole as 73% of doctors support either a public option or medicare for all (and obviously those who support medicare for all would support the public option over no public option, as a compromise.)

Personally I think medicare for all ("single-payer") would be the best solution. But the public option is a reasonable compromise.

President Obama's Health Insurance Reform Plan

It's now very easy to find out exactly what President Obama's health insurance reform plan is all about. Watch this four minute video so that you can be informed on this very important issue:



I highly recommend that you go to HealthCareForAmericaNow.org so you can find out what you can do to help the cause of health care reform! This is truly a battle between the American people against the health insurance companies (and the politicians that they control.)

They have billions of dollars (they made by not providing decent coverage to millions of Americans) to buy off politicians but we have our votes! We have to make our voices heard.

Tell your Senators and your Congressman (or woman) that you will not support them next time around unless they come out strongly for the public option (it's an essential part of making this health care reform truly meaningful.)

Besides contacting your representatives, another thing you can do is write an op-ed to your local newspaper explaining why you support health care reform.

For more information go to the Health Care page on Obama's website.

President Obama On Health Care

For anyone who missed President Obama's speech on health care reform last Wednesday I have included it (in it's entirety) right here! Check it out. This is really something every American should see.

Please be sure to really listen to this with an open mind if you are someone who is on the fence about health care reform or who has bought into some of the lies being spread by those who are against it (the Republicans trying to win a political victory at the expense of the health of the American people and the insurance companies who want to keep making billions in profits by not providing the coverage they should be.)

The President does a good job of explaining what the real goals of health care reform are (such as making it illegal for health insurance companies to discriminate against those with "pre-existing conditions") and of explaining why health care reform is really a moral issue (how can sit back and do nothing while THOUSANDS of Americans die every year due to lack of health care coverage?)

Watch:



www.HealthCareForAmericaNow.org

Seven Ways You Can Support Health Care Reform

So you want to support health care reform but you're not sure what to do? Here you go:

#1) HealthCareForAmericaNow.org is probably the #1 site for getting involved in health care reform. It's a great place to learn about the issues, to find out about health care reform events you can attend, and to find out what kind of action you can take (such as contacting your Congressman and your Senators.)

#2) Write a "letter to the editor" explaining why we need health care reform. I recommend bringing up the moral aspects of this issue. A couple of facts to consider including: Over 10,000 Americans die every year due to lack of health care coverage and almost one million Americans go bankrupt every year due to medical expenses.

#3) StandWithDrDean.com is another great site to get involved with. Take the time to sign the petition and pass it around to your friends!

#4) InsuranceCompanyRules.org is great site for showing the problems with our current private insurance company based system. Sadly many people (including most of those fighting against health care reform) have no idea just how screwed up our current system is. Share this website with everyone you know.

#5) Contact Your Congressman. Let him or her know that you demand that they support health care reform (including the public option.) Demand that they work for the good of the American people and not the profits of the health insurance industry!

#6) Contact Your Senators. Let them know that you want them to stand up for the American people's health! Tell them that a "co-op" (which leaves too much power in the hands of the insurance companies) is a non-starter. We must have a public option. We demand it! It's why we voted for Barack Obama by a huge margin and why the Democratic party has a huge majority in the Senate & the House.

#7) Attend a "We Can't Afford To Wait" vigil on Wednesday, September 2nd of 2009. CLICK HERE.

BTW, I strongly recommend watching this Bill Moyers interview (video embedded below) with a man named Wendell Potter because it's very enlightening as far as the huge problems with the private health insurance industry.

Seven Truths About The Current US Health Care System

1.) The US ranks #37 in the world in overall health care despite spending more money on health care than any other nation in the world.

2.) The US ranks #50 in the world in life expectancy and this ranking has been slipping every year. Clearly we are doing something very wrong in this country.

3.) If you have a private health insurance plan and you get sick or badly injured (ie: you begin to cost them money) there's about a 50% chance that they will find some reason to drop your coverage. This has to be the scariest point to anyone who has health insurance right now. With the current system, without reform, there's a 50% chance that your health insurance won't be there for you when you need it most.

4.) The US bankruptcy rate is many times higher than that of the UK (and other nations with national health care) almost entirely due to outrageous health care costs for people with inadequate health insurance cover. Nearly one million Americans a year go bankrupt due to health care costs.

5.) There are about 50 million people in the US without any health care coverage and many more who are under insured. With so many people depending upon employer based health care coverage there's little security for the average American that they will have health care coverage when they need it most. In economic times like these, almost anyone can lose their job.

6.) If left unchanged the current health care system is on pace to bankrupt the US economy.

7.) There are many people who have an extremely difficult time obtaining any health care coverage due to a "pre-existing condition."

CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT HEALTH CARE REFORM.

Three Right Wing Myths About Health Care Reform

Right now the insurance industry/right wing politicians are doing everything they can to kill the health care reform that our country so badly needs (450,000 doctors agree.)

Below are three of the worst of the lies they are spreading in order to get everyday Americans actually fighting against their own self interest (which is in having real health care reform that improves the system while lowering costs.) They are spreading these lies to manipulate people into fighting for more health insurance industry profits and against health care for the American people.

Lie #1

Probably the most heinous lie that these groups are spreading is that health care reform has something to do with "killing old people." This is absolutely obscene and has no truth to it at all.

What's most disgusting is when you consider that most older people rely on Medicare. Yes, government run health insurance! And that the health insurance corporate interests were saying the same disgusting lies they are saying about health care reform now that they said about Medicare in the 1960s.

Lie #2

The right wing gets a lot out of of using "pro-life" people and they're trying to pull off that trick again with the lie about health care reform meaning that tax dollars will be paying for people's abortions. Just like lie #1, there's simply no truth to this. They are twisting the words in the health care reform bills to fit in with their scare tactics.

Lie #3

One of the stupidest lies they're spreading is the idea that the government couldn't run a successful health care program. This is obviously untrue. What about Medicare? What about all of the other countries in the western world who have been doing it for many years? (and with less costs and better health care results than our system.)

This is only a sampling of the lies the anti-health care reform people are spreading. But to be sure, if it's coming from the insurance industry/right wing, then it's probably a lie. They have no interest in a health care system that works for the American people. All they care about is the billions of dollars of profit that the health insurance industry scam makes them.