So, How About That New Health Care?

Will America be seeing an enormous overhaul in the health care coverage for our nation? By the sound of it, the answer is in the affirmative. In an atypical Saturday night meeting of the U.S. House of Representatives, the new health care bill, H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, passed with three votes to spare. The final count was 220-215. If passed by the Senate there will be some definite changes, though the effects that the majority of Americans will feel might be minimal. What does this bill propose?

• It restricts insurance companies from denying coverage to anyone with a pre-existing condition or for cost of care.
• It provides federal subsidies to those who cannot afford health insurance (low- to middle-income families). Are you wondering where this money comes from? Families with an income greater than $500,000 per year should expect an increase in their taxes.
• It guarantees coverage for 96% of Americans.
• As it is, this plans costs $1.3 trillion over the next decade. (This number appears to be dropping in order to encourage its passing in the Senate.)
• A stipulation in this bill is that it requires that women in this plan purchase supplemental abortion insurance with private funds if they want to be covered in the future. Representative Bart Stupak proposed this amendment that brought many of the pro-life representatives who had been against the bill to become supportive of it.

This bill has Obama’s full support; if it makes it through the Senate the next step is to have it set to work. It would be the biggest change in health care since the creation of Medicare four decades ago. However, no one can be sure whether or not it will pass through the Senate, thus all we can do is wait. But we are quite accustomed to that by now, are we not?

What’s your opinion on the health care bill? Does it give the government too much power or is it still too little or is it “just right”? Leave a comment.

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