O.K. so help me Glass Half Full People...

[vi5]

I really want to not be angry or bitter or negative about HCR. I really don't. I've said all along that while I want a public option of some sort, that I would be happy with some solid industry reform. I have a very sick 3 year old son so I have been through the health care and the insurance ringer and while we've been lucky so far, we've also gotten screwed in some ways, and have had to witness some heartbreaking things amongst the people we've encountered being in and out of hospitals. So since I know there are a lot of people on here advocating that while the bill isn't perfect that it will reform the system.....o.k. help me understand how because I think these things are important but with all the conflicting yelling going on I haven't seen how it will work.

-Not Denying because of pre-existing conditions: Important. Incredibly important. I know it's in both the senate and the house bill, but how will it be enforced? What are the penalties?

-Not dropping people's coverage when they get sick: Again, important. Incredibly important. Again, how will it be enforced? Who will do the enforcing?

-Ban on lifetime caps: Great. Wonderful. As someone whose son is, at 3 years old 40% on the way to his lifetime cap, this one hits close to home. But as with the other posts on the subject, this loophole allowing annual caps pretty much negates this. Yesh I know supposedly Obama wants it out, but it hasn't yet been taken out and he's wanted a lot of things that got tossed out or not changed.

What did I miss? What are the other benefits? I'm not someone who wants to be cynical or angry or upset and I've read enough people whose work and opinion I respect telling me that this bill even in it's watered down form will help a lot of people. And if the above 3 things have teeth then I agree. But my concern is that with mandates and without enforcement and without a clear and concise method of recourse for people to contest and pursue action when these things happen that it's not going to be effective.

Please don't flame me on either side. Especially the side who are advocating to kill the bill because if anything I'm already in that camp and already leaning in that direction. I'm just trying for some optimism here and trying to hear the other side in something other than the shouting.

[Shagbark Hickory]

1. It's not healthcare reform, it's just health insurance reform. And...

If you're satisfied with some basic health insurance reforms, then consider your glass halfway filled up. If you ask me a once in a lifetime opportunity was blown but some would consider the ban on pre-existing conditions a once in a lifetime achievement.

[vi5]

4. If it's enforced it will be an acheivement...

...and no, I'm not "satisfied" by any stretch of the imagination. But in my experience I've seen first hand enough people have their lives ravaged by the dropping of coverage and the pre-existing conditions and lifetime caps for me to be able to dismiss those things as not being important. Again, this is only assuming those measures have teeth, which I'm not convinced they do.

[Laelth]

2. Your questions about enorcement are valid.

I have seen no discussion of the enforcement mechanisms of this bill. I can not answer your question, but I eagerly await the answer.

:dem:

-Laelth

[dmallind]

3. Well for a start

Subsidizing families who make up to 88K so they can afford insurance is not a bad thing.

Getting 30 million uninsured at least some coverage is not a bad thing.

The whole bill is unlikely to be a great thing and may not even be a particularly good thing, but we will be better off with it than without it.

[vi5]

6. Can you explain that aspect of it...

I've seen/read/heard those numbers about how more people will get coverage, but through what means?

If it means that people who were previously denied coverage because of conditions then that makes sense and is good.

But if it means people being able to afford coverage I've not seen specifically which mechanisms work towards that end.

[Shagbark Hickory]

12. I can explain it.... It doesn't mean there will only be 15 million uninsured left...

The 30 million people that will get the insurance are the dirt poor that qualify for subsidies and people that are otherwise elegible.
The middle class, as usual will be left out and the number doesn't take into account the tens of millions of newly uninsured due to lack of employment or decreased earnings.

It's political rhetoric. It doesn't mean that there will be only 15 million people left without insurance.

[Shagbark Hickory]

11. Isit great if that coverage fuels future campaigns against reform?

[lunatica]

5. I have no words to express how I feel for you and your son

It looks hopeless right now. This entire health care so-called 'debate' has been cruel and despicable. People have been jeered for being sick and even for dying. It makes me sick and it makes me want to despair about some of humanity's ability to be callous and uncaring. I hope something will come out of this that benefits your son.

[vi5]

7. Thank you......but as I said....

...we are the last ones you should cry for. We have good insurance. They've covered a lot of what he's needed, not just the strictly medical stuff like operations and hospital stays but also physical/occupational/speech therapists, home health care, home medical equipment, etc. And all my son's issue will get better with age and are fixable and treatable.

It's the people we've seen who go through what we have or many times even worse, who don't have the coverage who can't afford what they need and who literally have to get less care than my son did simply because they were poorer than we are. The ones whose kids will not get better and who will be contending with this stuff for a lifetime who need the sympathy and the help. It's a tragedy and we always know that there but by the grace of whatever entity controls this mess of a world we live in, it could be us in the same situation.

[lunatica]

10. No one should have to go without the health care they need

The thing that makes me feel like throwing up is that it isn't like good health care is some new unknown thing that needs to be invented by the USA. It already exists successfully in other countries. The problem is there is no profit in it for our representatives in Washington DC. Their votes don't come cheap. If universal health care could make them rich we'd have it. Corruption rules.

[doc03]

8. The insurance companies can't deny because of

pre-existing conditions, can't drop people's coverage and can't have lifetime caps. That all sounds good but the insurance rates are going to go up big time? How many people and companies will
will have to drop coverage because of increasing rates? From what I see all we will see is more uninsured. Next year any Democrat in a conservative area is going to be beat over the head with "Obamacare", kiss that control of Congress goodbye. It was just plain stupid to take this on in the middle of a recession and after 2010 forget about health care. How is it Democrats always find a way to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory?

[doc03]

9. Deleted duplicate post n/t