Healthcare Reform

This article is not sourced.  It is based on reports I am hearing from various news sources.  There are some issues being raised about how the current bill could be passed without sixty votes in the Senate and what that would mean to the average American's medical care.

The reconciliation process requires that the House pass the Senate bill as is to begin the process.  Thie would include the 'Louisiana Purchase', the 'Cornhusker Kickback', and the Florida Medicare A exception.  One of the issues in this process for some House members is abortion funding.  The House bill has strong language preventing the use of federal funds to pay for abortions (there may be exceptions to that when the life of the mother is at risk).  The Senate bill does not directly use federal funds to pay for abortion--everyone who gets their health insurance through the government pays a surcharge that goes into a fund to pay for abortions.  Technically the government isn't paying for abortions, the people buying medical insurance from the government are.  There are also some real questions as to whether conscience clauses that protect doctors and nurses whose religious convictions oppose abortion are included in the Senate (or House) bill. 

Another thing to be aware of as the debate continues about healthcare reform is the ability to keep your present health insurance.  Medicare A, one of the most popular Medicare programs, will be eliminated (except in Florida).  That means that many of our senior citizens would be forced to find new health insurance.  Also, the way the bill is written, it would be advantageous for businesses to stop providing health insurance coverage for their employees.  The fine for not covering employees would be considerably lower than the cost of insuring employees.  This would force most Americans to find new health insurance.  Because the private health insurance companies would not be able to compete with the 'seemingly endless' funds of the federal government, private insurance companies would be forced out of business.  We would then have only government healthcare.

Healthcare insurance reform is a good idea.  There are ways to make the healthcare system more efficient and less costly.  Some good ideas are tort reform, portability across state lines, tax incentives for people to buy insurance, and insurance pools for pre-existing conditions.  On February 22, I posted an article (RightWingGranny.com) about The Small Bill, a one-page proposal to reform healthcare insurance.  Frankly, I think we should reject any bill that has more than twenty-five pages!  That way we can be relatively sure that some of the people voting on the bill will read the bill!