Saturday, January 9, 2010

The President's Weekly Address: Health Reform's Benefits in 2010

From the White House blog:

The President discusses the benefits of health reform that Americans will receive in the first year, and how reform will help build a new foundation for American families.





This is some of the most important parts of what he is saying that needs to be repeated I think, over and over... This is what starts no matter which bill is signed no matter what happens.. and it is important we see and understand these things.. This is REFORM!


But what every American should know is that once I sign health insurance reform into law, there are dozens of protections and benefits that will take effect this year.

Uninsured Americans with a pre-existing illness or condition will finally be able to purchase coverage they can afford.

Children with pre-existing conditions will no longer be refused coverage, and young adults will be able to stay on their parents’ policy until they’re 26 or 27 years old.

Small business owners who can’t afford to cover their employees will be immediately offered tax credits to purchase coverage.

Early retirees who receive coverage from their employers will see their coverage protected and their premiums go down.

Seniors who fall into the coverage gap known as the donut hole will receive discounts of up to 50 percent on their prescriptions as we begin to close that gap altogether.

And every patient’s choice of doctor will be protected, along with access to emergency care.

Here’s what else will happen within the first year. Insurance plans will be required to offer free preventive care to their customers – so that we can start catching preventable illnesses and diseases on the front end. They’ll no longer be allowed to impose restrictive annual limits on the amount of coverage you receive or lifetime limits on the amount of benefits you receive. They’ll be prohibited from dropping your coverage when you get sick and need it most. And there will be a new, independent appeals process for anyone who feels they were unfairly denied a claim by their insurance company.

In short, once I sign health insurance reform into law, doctors and patients will have more control over their health care decisions, and insurance company bureaucrats will have less. All told, these changes represent the most sweeping reforms and toughest restrictions on insurance companies that this country has ever known. That’s how we’ll make 2010 a healthier and more secure year for every American – for those who have health insurance, and those who don’t.


Those are just the things that go into effect this year.. as soon as they can be implemented after the President signs the bill into law. Why are these not good things?

It does almost everything we have stated we wanted. Lowers costs, insures the uninsured and covers the people with pre-existing conditions. I think this is a win win for us all. No it may not have everything, but it has the big parts of it.. and it is sure something that makes a HUGE step in the right direction to getting what everyone says they want.

So, lets support this, get it done and then move on to the next step. Can we all agree on that?

10 comments:

Sue said...

I'm on board with everything here, now I'm waiting to see what it'll cost a couple like me and the husband who are in the process of filing for disibility and will have very limited monthly income. We desperately need affordable premiums.

Annette said...

Sue, I posted that site at your blog which allows you to calculate the costs.. did you use it? That should give you a good idea.. maybe I need to post it here too..lol

K. said...

This bill is not what I'd like, and I'm outraged that the likes of Holy Joe and Ben Nelson could hold it hostage. But, that's the system. (Although do you think that Lyndon Johnson would have have handled those two clowns differently than Harry Reid?) Sinking the bill from the left would be a catastrophe, as I've written on my blog. FiveThirtyEight.com has a good piece here about why progressives must line up behind this legislation.

Annette said...

What could be done differently.. They are what they are.. you can't change them and you can't make them into something they aren't.. not even with a different leader.. There isn't anything more to be done in order to get this passed.. I firmly believe that.. No, I don't like it.. but we have to take what we have to get this passed.. then we can build on it.. Just as LBJ did, just as FDR did... Look to the past for lessons for the present and future.

Sue said...

No Annette I don't remember that site or which comment you left it in. I'd love to see it if you post it here, thanks!!

mommapolitico said...

Great list of benefits from the new bill, Annette. And God knows, we need each and every one of them. I think for most folks the frustration lies in the fact that we're here, with the White House and Legislative Branch in our control, and yet we have these dissenters/ConservaDems fighting us tooth and nail to get things done. I agree with K., in that a little LBJ style arm-twisting could have done wonders toward accomplishing the goal. But I am glad that the points you - and, oh yeah, and the President! :) - outlined above.

But we need to now focus our energy, among other things like getting troops home and jobs built, on insurance regulation and making sure we are not held hostage by the monopoly waiver of sorts that's been granted to insurance companies. We should tie it all together with re-regulation of the financial sector, and throw the media in the mix as well! I think the American public would be well-served to this end.

Terrific post - you always get us thinking, Girlfriend! Thanks!

K. said...

Who'd a thought anyone would ever wax nostalgic for LBJ? Heck, I was Clean for Gene as a 13-year old! (Now we'll see how far back some of you go.)

Annette said...

Well, I am older than you K.. so I know of whom you speak...lol

But, even LBJ could NOT make Traitor Joe or Ben Nelson or Blanche Lincoln vote for something they don't want. Sorry, even he had to compromise on the Civil Rights bill, the Medicare bill and others.. That's just the way it works.. I know everyone wants to believe he was a power house and an arm twister and he was.. but you can only get what you have the votes for.. and the votes just aren't there to make this any different than what we have now. But we can build on this to make it better.. That's what we have to concentrate on.

morb320 said...

Right, Annette, and we need to remember that when LBJ was president, there were reasonable republicans in Congress who cared more about the American people than they did for their own pocketbooks and those of their corporate sponsors. It seems that the goal of the current crop of congressional republicans is to break the backs of the poor and the middle class.

Annette said...

You are exactly right Majii... the R's now and the R's then are completely different. Just as the D's now and then are very different.

If FDR nor LBJ could get major reform passed with the majority they had, and with republican votes besides, how does anyone think this President and this Congress can pass anything with the R's obstructing and with the DINO's we have to work with. It is just not going to happen.. no matter how much arm twisting you do.