Like many consumers, I’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting for the adoption of a new health care reform law.
It’s badly needed. Consumers are going without treatments because they can’t afford insurance for medical bills and because insurance companies say they have “pre-existing conditions.” Consumers also are being overcharged, and they’re being rushed through doctor appointments and going to hospitals with low-quality care, including high infection rates.
Democrats have been trying to cobble together a plan that their meekest members will pass, while Republicans “just say no” – over and over and over again.
It’s been a discouraging and frustrating process for consumers everywhere.
Now what?
With the election of Republican Scott Brown to the Senate, the much needed changes seem even more difficult to achieve.
White House senior adviser David Axelrod told POLITICO:
I think that it would a terrible mistake to walk away now. If we don’t pass the bill, all we have is the stigma of a caricature that was put on it. That would be the worst result for everybody who has supported this bill.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Democrats can still make it happen:
We will get the job done. I am confident of that. I have always been confident of that.
President Obama told ABC News on the first anniversary of his Inauguration:
People are angry, they are frustrated. Not just because of what's happened in the last year or two years, but what's happened over the last eight years…
I would advise that we try to move quickly to coalesce around those elements in the package that people agree on.
We know that we need insurance reform … We know that we have to have some form of cost containment. And we know that small businesses are going to need help so that they can provide health insurance for their families. Those are the core, some of the core elements of this bill.
The ABC article said Obama’s comments signaled he might support a scaled-back overhaul after the loss of the key Senate seat.
I hope the health care debate will end with positive changes for American consumers.
We can do it. Yes, we can.
You obviously don’t know the negative effects of this new “health care reform”. Do some research before you start ranting on about something that should NOT occur.
Hi Bella,
I’ve researched health care reform thoroughly. I’ve been writing about consumer affairs since 1977.
Millions of Americans don’t have health care. I saw a man on TV who had cancer on his face and it destroyed part of his nose. He didn’t have health care, so he let his cancer grow. In addition, so many people are being rejected due to so called preexisting conditions such as acne when they have serious diseases.
I hope that health care reform will be passed soon. My concerns are that the compromise that won’t be as strong as it should be to help the American people.