The health reform bill: What you can expect (a fairly tail)

Napa Valley Register ^ | 03/28/10 | Rep. MIKE THOMPSON

[skyman]

It’s been a long and complicated process, but Americans are finally going to see some results from the protracted battle over health care reform. On March 21, the House passed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

With all of the partisan sniping and fear mongering, many have lost sight of the main goal of health care reform: to improve ordinary Americans’ access to quality, affordable health care. And this legislation is an historic, important step forward for our country that will have an immediate impact for all Americans.

When the president signed this bill into law on March 23, insurance companies were immediately stopped from dropping your coverage when you get sick.

The new law also immediately bans insurers from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions.

Adults who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition will be able to buy affordable coverage.

New private insurance plans are required to cover preventive services and immunizations with no co-payments.

Young people will be able to stay on their parents’ insurance until their 26th birthdays. And small businesses that provide coverage to their employees are eligible for a tax credit of up to 35 percent of premiums.

Seniors will also see immediate benefits from this bill. Some Medicare beneficiaries currently fall into the “donut hole,” the gap in coverage which forces seniors to pay out-of-pocket for their medications. These folks will get a rebate of up to $250, which is just a start — once the bill is fully implemented, the “donut hole” will be closed, and seniors won’t have to go broke paying for their medicine. The legislation also requires coverage of prevention and wellness benefits, an annual wellness visit and immunizations under Medicare with no out-of-pocket cost.

Under this bill, more primary care doctors, nurses, and public health professionals will be educated.

The bill also includes increased funding for community health centers — allowing them to almost double the amount of patients they treat over the next five years.

Once the entire bill goes into effect in 2014, it will make an even bigger impact.

It will expand access to insurance to more than 95 percent of our country, giving more than 32 million people who are currently uninsured access to affordable coverage.

It will end the hidden tax all insured individuals currently pay to cover the cost of uninsured people’s emergency room visits.

Insurers will be prohibited from denying coverage or setting rates based on pre-existing conditions, medical conditions, genetic information, or evidence of domestic violence.

All plans must provide a benefits package that meets a minimum standard, with limits on how much you will have to pay for co-pays and deductibles. To help people afford care, there will be tax credits available for low- and middle-income families.

The bill is paid for and will reduce our budget deficit over the first 10 years by $143 billion and by $1.2 trillion in the next decade.

These aren’t my numbers, but the savings calculated by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.

Seniors will get greater relief once the entire bill is implemented.

Middle-income seniors will get a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs. Remember, the “donut hole” will be closed entirely by 2019. And the Medicare program, which provides so many important services to seniors, will have its solvency extended by nine years.

To reduce the cost of health care, the bill will set up tested programs to bend the cost curve and improve quality of care.

For example, value-based purchasing, which means paying doctors for the quality of care rather than the quantity of services they provide will be implemented to bring down costs.

And we’ll set up pilot programs to test ideas like accountable care organizations, where a team of doctors work together to provide high quality care, and are rewarded as a team if they are effective at bringing down costs.

If this and other pilot projects are effective, Medicare is authorized to implement these reforms quickly on a broad scale.

This new law isn’t perfect. Reforming health care is an ongoing process and won’t be completed with the passage of one bill.

But, by passing this bill into law, millions of Americans will be able to afford to go to the doctor, and they will be able to get the treatments they need without bankrupting themselves or our country. And that’s what matters.

(Thompson, a Democrat, represents California’s First District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He lives in St. Helena.)

[skyman]

This fairly tail article isn't surprising since Rep Thompson helped write the bill. I would like to submit a rebuttal with facts about things that are actually in the bill like taxes less freedoms, etc that people don't realize and bad results. Can anyone help provide resources?

[EGPWS]

The health reform bill: What you can expect (a fairly tail)

Loss of property before it's time, death before it's time, and loss of personal freedom for all.

All else is just fluff.

[EGPWS]

But, by passing this bill into law, millions of Americans will be able to afford to go to the doctor, and they will be able to get the treatments they need without bankrupting themselves or our country.

There is a conflict with this.

Who then is going to be bankrupted then, doctors?

Me thinks we will see less of them then.

[GloriaJane]

And dancing bears happily grace the scene where butterfly's twitter all about and rainbows streak across the sky and unicorns bounce across the green & flower sprinkled fields of cow crap.

Welcome to the real world!

[DaxtonBrown]

[Adults who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition will be able to buy affordable coverage. ]

If that isn’t the most idiotic statement in the universe, I don’t know what is. If you have infinite health care needs, the insurance becomes infinitely costly. Of course the dems know this. The only question now is what happens AFTER the system crashes? Do we go communist? Or back to capitalism?

[eggman]

Who then is going to be bankrupted then, doctors?

First the doctors, then the insurance companies, then the country.

[garjog]

YES WE CAN BELIEVE IN A FAIRY TALE

Once upon a time Evil Companies ruled the land and forced the villagers to pay bags of gold coins each month but still denied the sick health-care when they needed it. One little boy even lost his mother because the King named W wanted to keep all the people's money for himself and the Evil Companies.

Then an Enchanted Black Knight with a circular coat of arms on his chest road into town and organized the villagers to resist the exploits of the Evil Companies and Greedy King W. He promised them hope and change!

Soon Greedy King W was run out of town and the Black Knight and his men broke open the treasury in the castle on the hill and tossed all of the gold coins over the wall to the cheering people (keeping some for expenses, of course).

From that day onward no one in the kingdom was filthy rich anymore and none of the villagers died from sickness just because they were poor. The Knight had generously given the people high quality health care and a fair share of wealth.

Soon afterward, the people rallied in the village square to shout praises of the Black Knight as their savior and hero and gave him the throne to rule as their Great Leader, singing.

"We’re gonna spread happiness

We’re gonna spread freedom

Obama’s gonna change it

Obama’s gonna lead ‘em

We’re gonna change it

And rearrange it

We’re gonna change the world."