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If you also support this law, don’t worry at all when you hear that the House has repealed it.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.
On January 22, 1973 the Supreme Court of the United States held that women had a right to terminate their pregnancies. The case was Roe v Wade and no other Supreme Court case has had such a dramatic impact on the lives of women in this country.
Prior to that case, most states banned abortion. Of course, those states could not ban the desire of a woman to obtain an abortion. For hundreds, if not thousands of years, women faced with an unwanted pregnancy have always at least considered abortion and some obtained them. That meant that many women each year were procuring illegal abortions.
The world of illegal abortion was always a world of whispers. A woman would “get in trouble” and, if she felt there was absolutely no way that she could have the baby, she would quietly start talking to anyone she could trust. In every major city, there always seemed to be a least one doctor who would be willing to do the abortion, but these “abortionists” usually performed these illegal procedures in the shadows, in dirty “back alleys” with unsterilized instruments, no counseling, no sophisticated anesthesia, and no follow up exams. The result was hundreds and hundreds of women each year died on the operating tables or wound up in the emergency room of the local hospital with their “miscarriage.”
Incredibly, some women who could not find the abortionist wound up performing an abortion on themselves. The bloody coat hanger became a (harsh but real) symbol of the pro-choice movement because so many women used them to self-abort. Others concocted medical potions that they hoped would kill the fetus in utero.
There have been many books and movies about the world of illegal abortion. John Irving’s “The Cider House Rules” is a good one and the movie “If These Walls Could Talk” contained an excellent segment on a woman seeking an illegal abortion.
Ultimately, some more enlightened states like Colorado, California and New York passed laws legalizing abortion. Clinics were quickly opened and they were barraged with patients. Women from all over the world, yes, the world flew into those states to procure a legal (and safer) abortion. Clinic owners talk about sending out buses or limousines to the airport to transport the dozens of women who had flown in to get an abortion.
Then, everything changed on January 22nd. The Court said abortion was legal in all of the states with some caveats – and the floodgates opened up. Suddenly, all across the country doctors, feminists and others started opening up clinics. The rest is a long story, but the story is a celebration to women’s health. Today, abortion is one of the safest and most common surgical procedures performed on women.
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