heathershaped: (Obama bw)
Health care reform passed.

I really, really wish it were as liberal or as socialist as its opponents keep saying it is! Why we still can't manage single payer healthcare with a public option is beyond me. I wish there was more actual discourse about what's wrong with the bill (there's still a LOT wrong with it) rather than all the nattering about death panels and the USSA.

I'M STILL THRILLED IT PASSED. (hee, sorry to everyone I spammed on Twitter, btw) It's nowhere near enough, but it's a start. Obama, Pelosi and Reid achieved something that eluded their predecessors for decades.

Cautiously hopeful right now, but here's a list from Crooks and Liars (ganked from [livejournal.com profile] apocalypsos) of the ten benefits that will come online within six months of the President signing the healthcare bill:

1. Adult children may remain as dependents on their parents’ policy until their 27th birthday
2. Children under age 19 may not be excluded for pre-existing conditions
3. No more lifetime or annual caps on coverage
4. Free preventative care for all
5. Adults with pre-existing conditions may buy into a national high-risk pool until the exchanges come online. While these will not be cheap, they’re still better than total exclusion and get some benefit from a wider pool of insureds.
6. Small businesses will be entitled to a tax credit for 2009 and 2010, which could be as much as 50% of what they pay for employees’ health insurance.
7. The “donut hole” closes for Medicare patients, making prescription medications more affordable for seniors.
8. Requirement that all insurers must post their balance sheets on the Internet and fully disclose administrative costs, executive compensation packages, and benefit payments.
9. Authorizes early funding of community health centers in all 50 states (Bernie Sanders’ amendment). Community health centers provide primary, dental and vision services to people in the community, based on a sliding scale for payment according to ability to pay.
10. AND no more rescissions. Effective immediately, you can't lose your insurance because you get sick.

I seriously did not think this would happen.
heathershaped: (Default)


Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions — who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.
--President Barack Obama, 20 Jan 2009

full text of the speech below the cut )

Good luck, Mr. President.

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December 2011

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