Today or tomorrow, the U.S. House of Representatives will pass a bill that repeals the Healthcare Reform Act that was signed into law last year. That, of course, is the law that has generated so much controversy in this country. I personally support this much needed law.
If you also support this law, don’t worry at all when you hear that the House has repealed it. It’s all a big show.
The Republican Party campaigned in 2010 promising to repeal the law. And they will take this first step. But that’s as far as it will go. The next step would be for the repeal to be considered by the U.S. Senate and the Democratic Party still runs things over there. But, let’s think worst case scenario. Let’s say that the Senate also repeals the law. In that case, the next step is the repeal legislation would go to the President and guess what he will do? He’ll veto the bill.
When a bill is vetoed, it goes back to the House and the Senate. Both of those bodies can override what the President did but they have to get two-thirds of their body to vote for repeal. And the Republicans don’t have those numbers.
So, you can watch what is going on with interest if you’ve got nothing to do. The Republicans are just doing this so they can go back to their constituents and tell them that they “fought” to repeal that “horrible law.”
At this point, I assume you know that a new health care system is being implemented in this country. If you don’t know this then…..well, there is no sense in reading this cause, honey, you are on another planet.
We’ve heard all the arguing and seen some of the commercials and watched the elections and all. We’ve heard how the new Speaker of the House, John Boehner, has vowed to repeal the new law. Well, that’s a total crock because while the House of Representatives will vote to repeal it, it’s unlikely that the Senate will do the same and, if by some chance they do repeal it, well, Obama-Man is sitting there with his ole veto pen. End of story.
We’re gonna be living with this new law for some time. That being the case, I thought I would regularly send you a short explanation of what all of this means to you to cut through all of the stuff that you see and don’t have time to sort out.
A number of the provisions of the law will not take effect for quite a while, but some things are already in effect. So, right now, here’s the deal:
Any health plan that you get through your job or any new individual plan has to let any kids you have under 19 to have coverage. In other words, they cannot be denied coverage if they are already sick or have some medical condition.
If your health insurance allows you to have coverage for your dependents, then they can be covered until they are 26 years old. After that, you kick them out of the house and they’re on their own.
Insurance companies cannot drop you from their plans when you get sick just because you made a mistake on your coverage application.
Many insurance companies say that during your lifetime you can only be covered up to a certain point. Today, there are no limits.
If your employer offers a health plan, you generally can’t be turned away or charged a higher premium because of your health status or disability. This protection is called “nondiscrimination.”
If family members are eligible but are not currently enrolled under your health plan at work, you may be able to add them during a “special enrollment” opportunity outside of the usual “open enrollment” period.
I didn’t see any of Glenn Beck’s rally at the Lincoln Memorial this weekend. Just didn’t have the stomach for it. But his call to “restore America” brought back some memories of a rally that was held here in Virginia a few months ago by a gun rights group. They came to the local park because President Obama had just signed a new law allowing gun owners to bring their weapons into national parks. I guess that action was necessary to protect park goers from a hard charging deer or a rabid possum.
Out of curiosity, I went to the rally. There were about 30 gun toting folks there, some had long guns around their shoulders but most were carrying revolvers in their holsters. They were all white men, wearing very dark sunglasses and camouflage vests to help them blend in with the tot lots. The media outnumbered the participants.
When the speeches started, I listened intently, honestly trying to get a sense of what this group was concerned about. There was a lot of screaming and yelling about “taking back the Constitution” and getting rid of “the politicians who don’t even listen to us anymore.” Every time a speaker would shout one of these one-liners, the crowd would go nuts for five seconds, then it was back to listening to the cicadas.
After one of the speakers finished, he climbed down from the stage and waded into that crowd of 30 or so folks, soaking up the adulation, savoring his Martin Luther King on the Lincoln Memorial moment. He was beaming as the audience yelled “Way to tell it brother!” and “Right on my friend!” When he was able to escape from the massive crowd, I walked over to him and introduced myself.
I told him he had a good speaking style but I then said that I really don’t understand what his group wanted. What is your message, I asked?
Abortion Constitution
“Well, like I said, we need to take back the Constitution. These politicians don’t represent us anymore, they’re just cow-towing to the fat cat lobbyists and spending our money like drunken sailors.”
I asked him where he was from and he mentioned a town in Arizona. I reminded him that his Congressman was a very conservative guy who probably supported the group’s agenda 95 percent of the time. “Well, I don’t care,he’s not listening to us. He takes all of these junkets and makes way too much money. “ I asked him, then, if he was going to vote against the Congressman. “Nah, voting doesn’t make any difference, these elections are rigged anyway.” Hmmmmm.
I then got back to his message. “What do you mean when you say you need to take the Constitution back? Where exactly is it?” I think he picked up on my facetiousness. “It’s my Constitution, damn it, and with this health care bill and all of these illegal immigrants, well, they’ve taken it away from us.”
My head is now spinning totally out of control. Okay, I thought, let’s try to connect one more time.
“What about this,” I said. “What if you were sitting with President Obama in the Oval Office right now and he told you he would do two things at that very moment that you requested. What specifically would you ask him?”
Abortion Obama Discussion Oval Office
“Well, like I told you, I would ask him to follow the Constitution.” My eyes started to roll to the back of my head but, before that, I tried again. “But the President would say he follows the Constitution every day, what specifically would you want him to do?” At this point, I thought I saw him start to slowly reach for his constitutionally protected weapon, but I held my ground. “Well, I’d tell him to protect our guns.”
“But he just signed a law the other day that actually expanded gun rights. And do you really think he is dumb enough to suggest that the government take away all of your guns?”
“Well, he’s a smart boy, I’ll give him that but I want him to promise that he’ll leave us alone.”
Oy vey.
So, is that what this rally was all about? What the hell do these people want, anyway? What does Glenn Beck want?
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