This past Tuesday marked a historic landmark for the Obama administration. The passage of health care reform has been a goal sought by presidents since Theodore Roosevelt, but has not become a reality until now.
President Obama, along with members of the House and Senate, has been struggling with efforts to produce a new health care reform bill that provides a wider range of choices of health care for all Americans without increasing the national debt.
With such substantial change being made to the current form of health care, Americans are left wondering what this bill means. According to the White Houseís official webpage, the new bill will ìmake insurance more affordable by providing the largest middle class tax cut in history, reducing premium costs for tens of millions of families and small business owners who are priced out of coverage today.”
In addition, the new bill intends to reduce the deficit by $100 billion dollars over the course of the next 10 years. This will be done by cutting government overspending and capping off abuse and fraud of the economy.
The administration also hopes this will create a more level playing field for disadvantaged Americans seeking health care. President Obama has remarked that the bill displays the† ëícore principle that everybody should have some basic security when it comes to their health care.íí
Although these changes seek to benefit everyone, citizens are still wondering how and when they will see these changes.
The bill creates a new form of insurance exchange, which once opened,† allows people who are self-employed or whose employers don’t offer coverage the opporunity to purchase a plan. This also applies to people who are unemployed. Also, people with illnesses or medical problems will not be able to be turned away by insurance providers. While private insurance companies will begin making noticeable changes to policies over the next six months, some changes will not be finished until 2014.
However, the debate over health care reform is far from over. The $940 billion dollar plan has created a vast divide between House and Senate Republicans and Democrats. In the weeks leading up the vote last Sunday, Republican representatives spoke out in opposition of the bill saying that it would create more harm than good. Many Republicans worry that the high price tag on the bill will ultimately hurt the economy.
While Democrats are celebrating the clear triumph for the administration, Republicans in leadership positions around the country are already looking to repeal the decision.
Many Republicans, including Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, have already publicly announced their position to repeal the bill. Romneyís Free and Strong America Political Action Committee plans to support GOP candidates who are running in the 2010 elections on a platform of repealing certain controversial issues of the health care law.
Regardless of political affiliation, there is no doubt that this is a win for the Presidentís administration. Obama summed up his idea of our nationís principles when he said, ìWe are a nation that does what is hard, what is necessary, what is right.”