Now that the Senate passed the health overhaul package yesterday, what does that mean to those uninsured or underinsured? Who will benefit from it? Who will pay?
To be clear, the health reform bill does not become law until President Barack Obama signs it. If signed, the package would be expected to cover some 32 million additional Americans by 2019, but most Americans will be affected.
Should Obama sign the health package bill, the uninsured Americans will be forced to buy health insurance. If you can’t afford it, the government will provide subsidies to help cover your medical costs. If you can afford it but don’t want to be insured, you’ll be fined. Even at a relatively high unemployment rate, you’d still have to buy coverage. While most Democrats approve of this bill, a large number of Republicans do not. But let’s be honest — why does this issue have to be about politics?
I’ve heard many arguments about universal health care’s correlation with socialism. I’ve heard socialized medicine and the like and the amount of waiting time to get treatment. Take Shona Holmes for example. She is from Canada. She had to wait five to six months to get surgery for her brain tumor in Toronto. Distraught and impatient, she flew from Ontario to Arizona where she was treated immediately. “In six months, I would have died,” says Holmes.
Though brain tumors can cause serious — and sometimes fatal — injuries, a report on CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) News stated the claim that she would have died was laughable. Holmes’ “brain tumor” was, in fact, a benign Rathke’s cleft cyst, and is not known to be fatal. A neurosurgeon told CBC News that he’d never heard of someone dying from the condition.
Before we can jump to such bold conclusions, how can we outweigh the pros and cons of universal health care in America?
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