Editorial:
Often times when discussing health care in the United States we would often hear the lament ‘why can’t the US provide health care for all their people?’ Naturally comparisons would be drawn with other countries that do provide health care for all their citizens. This past Tuesday when President Obama signed the historic health care reform legislation, the United States took a giant step towards answering this question positively.
But before we get too excited about the health care reform, it is important to note that this is only a step in the right direction. This legislation falls short in many areas and did not really address the need for health care reform, only addressing the insurance aspect of health care.
First, the postitive aspects of the legislation:
– Expansion of government-funded Medicaid to cover 16 million additional low income people;
– Increased funding for community health centers;
– Reducing but not eliminating the infamous “donut hole” gap in prescription drug coverage for which Medicare enrollees have to pay the costs fully out of pocket;
– Insurance regulations covering members’ dependent children until age 26, and new restrictions on limits on annual and on lifetime insurance coverage, and exclusion of policies for children with pre-existing conditions.
– A ban on denying or rescinding coverage based on pre-existing conditions
What the legislation did not do was:
– Does not provide a universal health care option;
– Does not provide coverage for undocumented workers in the United States;
– Does not cover all Americans, health insurance will still be too expensive for those who will have to decide between health insurance and basic every day necessities;
– Does not reign in the cost of private insurers who can and will continue to raise the cost of insurance ;
– No meaningful restrictions on claims denials insurers don’t want to pay for;
– An erosion of women’s reproductive rights with the abortion issue being one of the sacrificial lambs for the passage of this bill.
This piece of legislation like most pieces of legislation has some good in it and some bad. Health care is still about making a profit and insurance premiums will continue to rise, drug companies will still continue to make huge profits, and there was no health care reform.
While the health care reform is not what was first envisioned, as a universal health care coverage package, it is still a significant step in the right direction and is not the end of the health care reform but merely the first step of many that will lead to a day when there is health care for all.