For
those of you that may not be aware about the Health Care Reform Act
that passed in 2010, I wanted to share some information I learned from
watching a town hall style forum that took place at the White House
earlier this month.
As
of now, in 2014 every American will be mandated to purchase health care
insurance (well... the supreme court hasn't finalized its opening on this mandated health insurance part). For some of you, this will means that your health care
premiums could fall for others it means an extra expense. For the majority of Americans it
means access to affordable health care. This is good news especially for people who do not have
the option of purchasing a health insurance for reasons such as pre-existing
conditions, limit-caps, and others.
I
guess it all started around 1987 when our nation became a
“compassionate society” which means that those that had the ability to
help would not deny medical care for those that could not afford
medical care. Needless to say, this came at a cost. Those that were
uninsured made emergency rooms of hospitals (ER) their primary care
homes and have adversely affected those with health insurance—basically,
hospitals pass along the costs of treatments of the uninsured through
high treatment costs to the insured and their insurance
companies—resulting in increasing premiums.
However,
the insured are not the only people affected; patients without health
insurance often are not given adequate health care treatment with
respect to their overall general health. As Dr. J. Nadine Garcia,
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Minority Health & Director of
the Offices of Minority Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (U.S DHHS), points out, physicians at ER’s are often only able
to treat the patients’ most threaten conditions, which often is more
severe than it should have been, if treated sooner. Dr. Regina Benjamin,
Surgeon General, U.S DHHS, assures that preventative care
remains the most viable method to treat the most dangerous and
deadliest conditions such as heart disease, obesity, and cancer.
While
we wait for the Supreme Court to make a decision on the Health Care
Reform, the Obama Administration remains confident that after 70 years
of precedent the Act will withstand the Supreme Court fully in tacked.
As the year 2014 nears, states are preparing with the creation of
insurance Exchanges to provide individuals and small business with same
private insurance choices that the President and Member of Congress
have, and to foster competitions in hopes to lower the premiums for all.
These Exchanges will make comparing plans and prices easier.
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