A Take on Health Care Reform

I'm sure pretty much everyone has heard the news by now that congress passed the new healthcare  reform bill here in the United States. I'm not really sure how I feel about it yet since I don't know all the details, but I am interested to see what happens. I know there are a lot of varying opinions, and that many of them are uninformed ones.

Capital Building, Madison, Wisconsin 2010

First of all lets get this straight, it is not "FREE" health care like the systems set up in other countries where everyone is taxed a fair amount and everyone is entitled to receive the same quality of health care. It is still going to be private insurance, it's just that government is trying to take more control over it. From what I understand it will be beneficial to many, and in basic theory it sounds like a mostly good idea, but I still think there are going to be people that will lose out, especially after going over some of the details that have been released.

Those that already have assistance will most likely see no changes. It is hopeful that this reform will bring down the cost of insurance so that those who do not qualify for assistance but can't afford it will finally be able to, but what if it has the supply and demand effect instead and increases them dramatically. I fear there will still be a lot of people left out. The part that I'm having trouble understanding is why isn't there a way to opt out. If your in that small group that still won't be able to afford it you will be charged extra tax instead. Does that mean you get to pay for something you can't use, or is it a way of forcing you to pay insurance premiums without your choice of broker? The information I've seen come across the news to the general public has been pretty vague on the details, which I suppose is fueling the debate added to those who just jump to conclusions instead of listening to the little information that is given and you have a mess.

They kept the rule of employers being required to offer insurance only to those with 50 or more employees or pay $2000 per employee seeking medical subsidies. They did raise the poverty level to $29,327 for a family of four, allowing more people to qualify for assistance, but I think that number is still too low. I know family's of two that have good budgeting skills that struggle to survive on that little of money, I can't imagine trying to support four on that and now having to add addition cost into the budget. I think the ones that make these rules should have to try to live on that for a year so they can be a little more realistic. So really, I think the only ones that have a major benefit from this are the ones that can afford insurance but were previously denied because of preexisting conditions, and the ones that just barely went over the income limits before. Really what they need to do is more welfare reform and get those living off the system that are able to contribute to society off their butts and out into the world, and create more jobs especially for the ones that want to work but can't find anything. All in all, hopefully it is a step in the right direction and they will be able to see where more improvements need to be made and fix them accordingly.