Chris' Lounge

American patients want healthcare laws that benefit their health. This service has been promised by the two major US political parties over the course of many years. We are tired of it. It’s been a campaign slogan and an exploit of voters’ needs. Precisely that is why, so many Americans are urging their Congressmen and Congresswomen to prescribe fixes in reply to the multiple doubts they express, regarding the “Affordable Care Act”, which has been detected as a problem. Opponents seeking a constituency win have locked horns in the capital over a significant amount of time. It’s all come to a head. This is my criticism: Using healthcare as a way to increase government power over citizens, is not welcomed, and that is what we people are sensing now, happening to us. But, the question after the government shutdown this fall remains: Why has the most important law not been voted on, up or down, as a singular independent law? That law [regarding “pre-existing conditions”] does not have to be bundled in with “Obama-Care”, and has nothing to do with attempting to gain the establishing of all sorts of powerful healthcare bureaucrats. That singular law that should be voted would enforce the right for all patients not to be turned down by an insurance company for having a pre-existing condition. That was talked about on its own, already over 7 years ago. As we know, for years, people have not been able to get insurance for that reason – putting great financial strain on patients who do have insurance, to subsidize the massive numbers of health care employees and service providers in our country. This also puts a strain on people without insurance, who risk the out-of-proportion medical bill that health providers might be banking on to compensate for supposed lost revenue, as compared to somebody who has more frequent health services per year. The solution is “called” editing and revising “Obama-Care” to ensure that healthcare does not remain a racket. The lawmakers already know what’s good and bad about the “Affordable Care Act” which is quite aptly named – is it actually affordable though? Perhaps, it is for the government itself. And constituents know it must be revised. If any part of “Obama-Care” fails to enforce fairness and accurate billing – as just one example, then it’s a flawed bundle. If fairness is not even so much as a priority, then we surely ought to be even more insistent on revision and even de-funding. If “Obama-Care” includes regulating insurance billing, as opposed to bloating and protecting robbery and racketeering, then that is a plus for “Obama-Care” and its drafters. And, in that case it should garner bi-partisan support. The deadlock, confirms that there is cause for mistrust however… “Where there’s smoke there’s fire”. If they can clean up fraud and waste however with the law, they could even then better fund what we in California know as “Medi-Cal”. Interesting as well, is that different states have different laws. So is “your” state “black” or “red” on the roulette table?
Everyone in America who wants health insurance, who also has a “pre-existing” condition, is being slighted in a very big way right now by increased fees (for some more than others) and the “pre-existing” condition protection absence for too many years already. To augment this, we have no budget left for the fantastical elements that appear to exist in a very robust overhaul – that constituents pay for possibly twice or more. The Democratic Party is insisting on implementing whatever they have, with far too much respect for their law writers and themselves, in what appears to be under-serving the public with public funds. Their bundled laws are including the “pre-existing” condition protection as a way to achieve the goal of forcing it all through, un-edited and un-improved. That’s not going to work for us. Even with lawmakers concerned about their own fate with the Act, we too should be even more concerned. American conservatives have been speaking on behalf of Americans “without” a “voice” out of genuine concern. They’ve been stymied. And, despite the shutdown this year, I still find much reason to side with them. From that too, they may in my opinion rightfully wash their hands clean. Now we have to see what will come of the promises in healthcare in America, if it is allowed to proceed. [Update 2014: The “pre-existing” condition law has become law this January. Congratulations to many people. Now we must see what progress will come with all aspects of the laws. Hopefully, doubts about the healthcare overhaul will be laid to rest in light of success in the laws. And if so, there will be at least one grateful person, and I can speak for myself in saying that it would be me. As I have not read the laws, I cannot pre-determine. Besides that, the future will tell, and the current president will be remembered in history, as the actuator for what will be either remembered as a racket, or a service to the people.]

Why would we need a complete overhaul to our United States’ health administering, when the only great concern to most people after all of these years who seek a health plan, has far less to do with the current delivery systems and far more to do with the one sticking point that our president promised us. Namely, a law which would prohibit health insurance companies from barring admittance of a patient, due to “pre-existing” condition. No huge 1,000 plus page overhaul is needed when one simple law can be put in place to prohibit insurance companies from blocking admission of patients through underwriting departments of the major US companies. Ah, but there seems to be more below the surface… underhanded and complex details that leave the mass public feeling mistrust. And, some of these details have come to light, giving weight to the skepticism. For all those who feared a doctor’s diagnosis that would give them a “pre-existing condition”, far worse, would be a system where patient is turned into serf, serving mostly to finance a bureaucracy.