If you’ve had a hard time keeping up with all the Healthcare debate or have lost interest along the way like I have, here is a nice quick summary from BusinessWeek on what is currently being proposed:
Insurers would no longer be able to reject new customers with pre-existing medical conditions; new restrictions would be placed on their ability to set premiums. Patients would have greater access to preventive care and young adults would be able to stay on their parents’ insurance until the age of 26.
See the full article for details on how the bill addresses individual mandates, expanding coverage, coverage for seniors, taxes, industry fees, employer mandates, abortion, and even a revamp to student loans.
Also, here’s Ezra Klein commenting on the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office’s review which found the bill will actually save money:
You also get the single most ambitious effort the government has ever made to control costs in the health-care sector. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the bill cuts deficits by $130 billion in the first 10 years.
This was a hard bill to write. Pairing the largest coverage increase since the Great Society with the most aggressive cost-control effort isn’t easy. And since the cost controls are complicated, while the coverage increase is straightforward, many people don’t believe that the Democrats have done it. But to a degree unmatched in recent legislative history, they have.
Coverage for 32 million that don’t currently have it plus better protections for those of us that already do while saving $130 billion in the process sounds like a win-win-win to me.
Let’s get this done people.
