LGBTQ news and entertainment
Great explanation on why the US got the Affordable Healthcare Act and not the single payer system many liberals and progressives truly wanted; both the political and realistic levels of accomplishment it just wasn’t possible in this political landscape.
Watch the video. Not long but it covers some issues in good common sense language.
April 3, 2006 press conference on passing of health care bill by legislature’s conference committee.
Mitt Romney calls his version of healthcare reform, which the Affordable Healthcare Reform Act was based on in part, NOT a tax but an “assessment.”
Somehow, between then and now, while he approved of such things then, he now finds the same ideas repugnant.
To repeat: the ideas he signed into law THEN, he now finds repugnant.
That was clear enough, yes?
Remarks from President Obama on the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Healthcare Act.
The Supreme Court ruling on President Obama’s health care law is complicated, just like the law itself. Today the court said the law is mostly constitutional. Here is what it means for you:
– You have to buy health insurance or be subject to a tax
– If you are under 26, you can get health insurance from the plan your parents use.
– If you’re on Medicare, you can get free mammograms.
– If you have what’s called a pre-existing condition, you can get health insurance.
– Insurance companies can’t deny you coverage even if you get sick and make a mistake on your health insurance application.
Human Rights Campaign issued this statement:
The Supreme Court’s decision means millions of Americans – including many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their families – will be better served by our nation’s healthcare system. The Affordable Care Act addresses a number of the barriers LGBT people face in obtaining health insurance, from financial barriers to obtaining affordable coverage to discrimination by insurance carriers and healthcare providers. While there is a great deal more that must be done to ensure that the health needs of all LGBT people are fully met throughout the healthcare system, today’s decision is an important victory in the fight for healthcare equality.
The Obama health care reform law is likely to be upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, predict more than a dozen academics, lawyers and journalists who follow the Supreme Court who were polled by the American Bar Association’s magazine Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases.
Approximately 85 percent of the panel, who were promised anonymity, predict the law will be upheld.
The law’s individual mandate – which requires individuals buy health insurance or pay a penalty – will be affirmed by a vote of 6-3, the group predicts. All of the experts think that the court’s liberal wing – Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor – will vote to uphold it. Chief Justice John Roberts will join them, 69 percent of the experts think, as will Justice Anthony Kennedy, according to 53 percent.
(source)
From Think Progress: Two year anniversary of “ObamaCare” today. While most of the law does not go into effect until 2014, take a look at some of the benefits Americans are already enjoying and what Republicans would take away:
The Department of Health and Human Services announced on Thursday that it will cut off all Medicaid funding for family planning to the state of Texas, following Gov. Rick Perry’s (R) decision to implement a new law that excludes Planned Parenthood from the state’s Medicaid Women’s Health Program.
The federal government pays for nearly 90 percent of Texas’ $40 million Women’s Health Program, and nearly half of the program’s providers in Texas are Planned Parenthood clinics.
But the new law that went into effect earlier this month disqualified Planned Parenthood from participating in the program because some of its clinics provide abortions, even though no state or federal money can be used to pay for those abortions.
According to Medicaid law, Mann said, a state cannot restrict women’s ability to choose a provider simply because that provider offers separate services — in this case, abortion — that aren’t even paid for by the Medicaid program.
This ‘apology’ to President Obama appeared in the LA Times.
Apparently this woman was very critical of the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare as it’s now commonly referred to). She didn’t like the law and clearly had an opinion about people who didn’t have health insurance.
Hit by the economy, this woman now faces the terrible diagnosis of cancer with no health insurance.
With the recession, both of our businesses took a huge hit — my husband’s income was cut in half, and the foundations that had supported my small nonprofit were going through their own tough times. We had to start using a home equity line of credit to pay for our health insurance premiums (which by that point cost as much as our monthly mortgage).
When the bank capped our home equity line, we were forced to cash in my husband’s IRA. The time finally came when we had to make a choice between paying our mortgage or paying for health insurance. We chose to keep our house. We made a nerve-racking gamble, and we lost.
Not having insurance amplifies cancer stress. After the diagnosis, instead of focusing all of my energy on getting well, I was panicked about how we were going to pay for everything. I felt guilty and embarrassed about not being insured.
“I’m not a deadbeat,” I blurted out. “I’m a good person. I have two kids and a house!” The clerk was sympathetic, telling me how even though she worked in the healthcare field, she could barely afford insurance herself.
This hits me on a many levels.
During the health care debates I was facing my own cancer journey. I watched multitudes of TV reports (during rounds of chemo) where people all over the nation who didn’t understand the law screamed and spit at law makers.
At the time, I became aware that most people get their health insurance through their employers, so they had no idea of what it actually costs. Being self-employed, I pay for my own every month – on my own.
I also had the feeling most people who hated the law probably had never experienced a serious disease. Do it once and you really value your coverage.
I’m very sorry this woman faces cancer and I wish her the very best. And I appreciate that she has had this epiphany about the protections for “pre-existing conditions” and how important this is.
One more thing: notice one of the issues the woman brings up is that she wanted people to know she wasn’t a “dead beat.” Probably because that’s what she thought people who didn’t have health insurance were.
I hope a lot of people read this letter and find a bit of the reality check here.
Yes, it can happen to you.
No, it doesn’t mean you’re a “dead beat.”
However, don’t judge those without health insurance as looking for a handout. It happens.
She closes with this:
“So this is my public apology. I’m sorry I didn’t do enough of my own research to find out what promises the president has made good on. I’m sorry I didn’t realize that he really has stood up for me and my family, and for so many others like us. I’m getting a new bumper sticker to cover the one that says “Got nope.” It will say “ObamaCares.”
Although a slim majority of Americans favor repeal of the Affordable Care Act (47% favor repeal – 42% support the law), a similar split of people also believe it is the government’s responsibility to insure everyone has healthcare (50% say yes versus 46% who say no).