An Ironic Day for Universal Healthcare

Come to think of it. I have never had my own healthcare.  When I was a kid, I rarely saw the doctor. Dentist visits were saved for the emergency "extraction". Any female doctor type visits were at the hands of non-profit and/or welfare.  My family never had it, and I never had it.  It is a constant worry.  I have a great doc down the road, who charges $100 a visit, and I think that is reasonable.  My dentist, whom now I see every 6 months, right on time, once in January and once in July ( I plan on keeping the rest of my teeth) charges me cost as IF I had the best insurance.  I think he sees that I'm trying to do the right thing by bringing in Shea & myself every 6 months like clockwork, and is trying to meet my good turn with another.

Ironically, this week was the passing of the Affordable Health Care Act and I was offered a position in a capital company, that comes with a great insurance package.  I am excited to see a doctor regular and do the preventive care, not just the emergency care.  And I will. :)

I have been taking in news from all types of sources regarding the Affordable Healthcare Act. First, referring to this bill as "Obamacare" I don't much care for.  New media often aims at contorting the truth, right off the bat, call this bill by name. 

The Affordable Healthcare Act

Let me look at key provisions to make up my OWN mind. :) Bullet points per Wiki..

• prohibiting health insurers from refusing coverage based on patients' medical histories
• Americans with pre-existing conditions get insurance? I'm down!
• prohibiting health insurers from charging different rates based on patients' medical histories or gender
• I'm obviously in!
• repeal of insurance companies' exemption from anti-trust laws
• Insurance companies need to be wrangled, no?
• establishing minimum standards for qualified health benefit plans
• Sounds good!
• requiring most employers to provide coverage for their workers or pay a surtax on the workers wage up to 8%
• I am not sure what "most" means, will need to look into this.  Do they refer to small business with under 10 employees?
• restrictions on abortion coverage in any insurance plans for which federal funds are used
• Ok, I am not even touching this one.  I am pro-abortion, even could go to the extreme of more people should get them, but I am not going to get on a soapbox and argue that my neighbors tax money should pay for my unsafe sex. Cheers to you Planned Parenthood!
• an expansion of Medicaid to include more low-income Americans by increasing Medicaid eligibility limits to 133% of the Federal Poverty Level and by covering adults without dependents as long as either or any segment doesn't fall under the narrow exceptions outlined by various clauses throughout the proposal.
• For those of you whom complain that government healthcare will be long wait lines, have never had a baby on welfare :)  If they made childbirth on welfare, as much of a pain in the ass as I hear this government healthcare, then I think less women would be having welfare babies.  Have you heard of the gripe about the food stamp office?
  
• a subsidy to low- and middle-income Americans to help buy insurance
• I'm curious to understand more...
• a central health insurance exchange where the public can compare policies and rates
• Interesting
• allowing insurors to continue to dictate limits on evaluation and care provided consumers by their physicians ("managed" or "rationed" care)
• Hrm... ?
• avoidance of capitating or regulating premiums which are routinely and in accordance with this law, charged by an insurance company for coverage, which might make the coverage non-affordable vis-a-vis a consumer's income^[6]
• requiring most Americans to carry or obtain qualifying health insurance coverage or face a fine for non-compliance.^[3][9]
• a 5.4% surtax on individuals whose adjusted gross income exceeds $500,000 ($1 million for married couples filing joint returns)
• Is THIS the tax the news is up in arms about?  This middle class tax? Are you serious?
• CNBC Highest Paying Jobs 2011
  Listed with average annual salary (source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
  
  1. Doctors and Surgeons: $165,720-$225,390
  2. Chief Executive Officer (CEO): $173,350
  3. Dentists: $158,770
  4. Lawyers: $129,440
  5. Natural Sciences Manager: $129,320
  6. Petroleum Engineer: $127,970
  7. Architectural Engineering Manager: $125,900
  8. Computer and Information Systems Manager: $123,280
  9. Marketing Manager: $122,720
  10. Financial Manager: $116,970
• a 2.5% excise tax on medical devices
• reductions in projected spending on Medicare of $400 billion over a ten-year period
• Reductions?
• inclusion of language originally proposed in the Tax Equity for Domestic Partner and Health Plan Beneficiaries Act
• Hrm?
• inclusion of language originally proposed in the Indian Health Care Improvement Act Amendments of 2009.
• I'll need to read that.. 
• imposing a $2,500 limit on contributions to flexible spending accounts (FSAs), which allow for payment of health costs with pre-tax funds, to pay for a portion of health care reform costs
• These are great.  This is what I'll be signing up for when my insurance comes in!

 I need to hear more facts, and less bullshit freakout FB posts and pundits loosing their minds for the ratings.

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Whitehouse's Healthcare Website

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