Among the reform issues that is most pressing is the need for universal childrens’ health insurance programs. On that note, the new health care reform bill has worked swiftly to help protect the health of children. It’s wonderful that the needs of the children of our country are being addressed immediately. One of the most promising elements of the reform bill is the requirement that insurance companies can’t deny coverage to children based on preexisting conditions; this measure will go into effect within months of passage.
I am very curious to see how the reform bill will help those displaced workers in maintaining their private insurance benefits. As has come up in recent posts here on this blog, programs like COBRA don’t exactly make it easy or affordable for the recently jobless to keep their health insurance. Particularly promising about the bill is its provisions for low-income families making less than $44,000 a year. According to the Christian Science Monitor, the bill will subsidize coverage so that – no matter how much you make – you will never spend more than 10% of your income on health insurance coverage.
No matter what, those who pushed to reform the system believe that the longer we wait and the slower we go on creating health care reform, the worse things will get.
The words of Richard Kirsch, a national campaign manager for Health Care for America Now (HCAN), seemed ominous when they were said over a year ago, but they were a harbinger of things to come: “We hope that Congressman Clyburn will join with President Obama and the 178 members of the 111th Congress, including a great majority of the House leadership, who have all stated that they want to see comprehensive health care reform passed. Now is not the time to take small steps to solve big problems.”
It’s a sad state we find ourselves in currently, not unlike people being stranded in a sinking boat and deciding who has to be thrown overboard in order to keep the boat afloat. Health care issues are not the only things plaguing our nation right now-almost everything needs help from the automotive industry to the unemployment crisis. If you think about it though, people need to have access to care to feel and operate at the best; you can’t try and fix a jobless situation where everyone applying for positions is in a less-than-healthy state of being? Quickly and strongly tackling health care reform might cause a ripple effect that would turn into health in the rest of the country’s economy.
So what can you do in the meantime? Explore any and every option available to you. Even if you think your pocketbook can’t stretch to make health insurance a reality, know that putting your health first is the best investment you can make in this shaky world we’re living in. If you are the type who doesn’t need to visit a doctor too often (you don’t have an on-going medical conditions that require regular check-ups), then a self-directed health plan might be a great option for you.
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