First, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) is right about this ruling on support for the Affordable Care Act. Today, he's quoted as saying: “Those who opposed any change in the law and dismissed the constitutionality of this measure were rejected by the actions of Congress and the opinion of the Chief Justice.” He went on to rightly point out that the Republicans need to stop getting in the way of this bill and the improvements for Americans that it is.
Naturally, he's right, period, but it's also an important point to make. It likely won't help, they're still going to fight this--and us--but it still needed to be said.
Second, our own Senator Roy Blunt's very-Republican response to the Supreme Court's ruling on this Affordable Care Act is silly, sad and frustrating because he attacks it like the rest of his political party yet they can't possibly can't truly come up with any real ways to fix the very broken American health care system.
Not only are Republicans blocks to progress in American society, they're tedious.
Third and finally, as this effects Missourians, our representatives in Jefferson City need to now get together, do their job and start setting up the insurance exchange for our state so people can get more competition from health insurance agencies and we can lower our costs.
To date, Republicans in Jefferson City have been dragging their feet, not wanting to creat these more competitive exchanges.
According to an article published today in Bloomberg News, the Missouri GOP is split on these exchanges (see link below).
Missouri and Kansas Republicans won't act on the insurance exchanges so their constituents can possibly, hopefully access lower insurance rates for health care. They're protecting the insurance companies instead of the people. It's disgusting.
If anyone, anyone, doesn't understand that we--Americans, Missourians, Kansans, all--need lower health insurance premiums and costs, I don't know what they would understand.
Let's do our best to get through to them, whaddya' say?
Links: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/06/28/155915124/health-care-law-upheld-now-what
http://durbin.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=878b5d83-8e8a-4fde-b0d8-5fab1c9e4635
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3 comments:
You seem to forget that when we debated Obamacare in 2010...YOUR SIDE LOST. The only reason Democrats were able to shove it down our throats anyway was by lying, cheating, and bribery. Republicans welcome the opportunity to debate it again, because Obama and the Dems have nothing new to offer, the law remains as unpopular as ever. So enjoy your 'big' victory, as it will be the last time you get to celebrate until at least 2016 or so.
OF COURSE we want affordable health care for everyone. Your side never bothered to convince the public that this 2,700-page-long incomprehensible monstrosity will achieve this goal. We see it and conclude that it will obviously make health care worse, and much more expensive for everybody.
Only a fool would believe that putting the government in charge will make the system more efficient and less expensive. So bring it on, give us your best shot, and prepare yourself mentally for another shellacking on election day.
I didn't forget anything, first.
Second, it wasn't my side that lost. The Democrats didn't shove anything down anyone's throats. What lies, specifically? What cheating? Who did the Democrats bribe? You make accusations but give no examples or proof. The Democrats bribed no one.
The law is unpopular, sure, with some, but for a lot of the rest of us it is extremely popular and even needed. How else would we have gotten the insurance companies to do away with the pre-existing condition exculsion? How else could we have gotten something as simple as twenty-somethings covered on their parents health insurance coverage? How else could we have done away with caps on total health care needs? The list is long as to what we gained with this Affordable Care Act--see the link at bottom.
No, not everyone in America is convinced that the ACA is good but the fact is, lots of Americans have already been helped by it and are beyond convinced. It doesn't make health care worse in America, it takes away some of the insurance companies power and gives it back to us, the average Americans out here living, dying and working.
Only a closed-minded person won't see the benefits of the ACA. It's not my goal,as it is yours, to label people negatively.
"Shellacking on election day". indeed. We shall see. At present, this President is ahead of his Republican, flip-flopping rival in the polls, for starters. This President also got Osama bin Laden and he got better health care for millions of Americans, along with many other benefits. Now, if he and we can just get Congress to, say, do some construction work across the nation on our infrastructure which is overdue and badly, badly needed, maybe we could create some jobs for America. Our own I-70 from St. Louis to Kansas City, all across Missouri is in horrible need of updating, widening and repair, as an example.
What I'm saying, to conclude, is, as the Republicans and the rest of us know, as the economy goes, likely, so will the election. It's anyone's guess until then.
For your benefit, too, here is just a short list of some of the benefits, to date, of the Affordable Care Act and this is just for one state, Illinois:
--$210 billion: Amount by which the Affordable Care Act will reduce the deficit over the next 10 years. The bill is projected to save over $1 trillion in the second decade.
--$278 million: Amount saved by over 228,000 businesses nationwide through small business tax credits to help manage health insurance costs.
--$155 million: Amount Illinois seniors and individuals living with disabilities have saved on prescription drugs. During the first five months of 2012, 26,000 people with Medicare in Illinois saved over $16 million on prescription drugs in the “donut hole” coverage gap for an average of $636 in savings this year.
--$61 million: Total amount the approximately 300,000 Illinois residents received from “Medical Loss Ratio” rebates. The law requires insurance companies to spend at least 80 cents of every premium dollar on medical care –rather than advertising, overhead, and executive compensation.
--$31 million: Amount Illinois and Illinois based organizations have received to support preventative care programs such as: tobacco cessation, HIV/AIDS prevention, and promoting the public health workforce.
--4.6 million: Number of individuals in Illinois, including 1.2 million children protected from insurance companies imposing lifetime dollar limits on health benefits.
--2.5 million: Number of young adults who have been able to stay on their parents’ insurance plan until age 26, including 102,000 young people in Illinois, who otherwise might have no insurance at all.
--1.3 million: Number of people on Medicare in Illinois who have received free preventive services. The Affordable Care Act made a major improvement to Medicare by making preventive health services, such as mammograms and cholesterol screening, available to beneficiaries with at no cost. The law also allowed 2.3 million people with private health insurance in Illinois to receive preventive care at no cost to them.
--2,200: Illinoisans are enrolled in Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan program. The Affordable Care Act created the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan program. The program makes health insurance available to Americans denied coverage by private insurance companies because of a pre-existing condition.
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