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If you also support this law, don’t worry at all when you hear that the House has repealed it.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.
Do you believe that a woman should have the right to terminate her pregnancy?
Well, if you do then you need to find some time in the next week or so to take some simple, political action.
The question of whether or not abortion should be legal rests in the hands of the nine judges who sit on the United States Supreme Court. As most of you know, it was the Supreme Court that made abortion legal in this country in the first place when they decided the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. On a 7-2 vote, the court held that the constitutional right to privacy extended to the right to have an abortion. Parenthetically, with that decision the pro-life movement was born.
Over the years, the Supreme Court has obviously changed as justices have retired or died. And over those years, the Court has never had an occasion to specifically decide whether or not abortion should remain legal. For the most part, the cases dealt with peripheral issues, like whether or not states could enact parental consent laws or 24 hour waiting periods. Still, in some of those cases, a justice might add, almost as an aside, whether or not they supported the original Roe v. Wade decision. Thus, we now know that at this moment in time, the Supreme Court favors legal abortion by a 6-3 vote (although some pro-choice advocates express concern about the Court’s swing vote, Justice Anthony Kennedy).
But now Justice John Paul Stevens, a clear pro-choice vote, is retiring and President Obama has nominated Elena Kagan to replace Justice Stevens. It is generally assumed that Ms. Kagan is pro-choice, although some Presidents have been surprised in the past. Still, the consensus is we need her on the court to retain the 6-3 vote.
The next step is for the U.S. Senate to confirm the nomination but the Republican Party, led by numerous pro-life activists, will pull out all the stops to hamper or even prevent her from being confirmed. Should her nomination be stalled, President Obama may be forced to find a more moderate justice, perhaps one that has no record on abortion, and that could be disastrous.
So, it’s time for you to take action.
Write to your two Senators and ask them to support Elena Kagan. If you do not know who your Senators are, go to the U.S. Senate website for that information. Sit down and compose a very simple message urging your Senators to confirm President Obama’s nominee. If your Senator happens to be pro-choice, urge him or her to support Kagan to help preserve the right to choose. If your Senator is pro-life, don’t mention the abortion issue.
The worst thing pro-choice people can do is to get complacent. Democracy is a participatory sport, it takes energy and we owe it to future generations to do what we can to preserve this precious constitutional right.
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