People tend to project their hopes and dreams onto things based on their name.
They hear “health care reform” and they see their ideological allies supporting it and they assume it does all kinds of magical things.
For those of you glad that the bill passed, be aware that what was passed resembles nothing like what is in Europe or Canada.
Here’s what it does (you can read the details at CBS News):
1. It “provides” insurance to 30 million Americans. How does it do this? They made it illegal not to buy insurance. Voila. Seriously. That’s how they did it. If you don’t, you’re fined $695 annually.
2. They make it illegal for insurance companies to deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions. So the person with basic math skills who figures out that $695 annually is a lot less than $6,000 annually ($500 X 12 months) can wait until they get pregnant, diagnosed with diabetes or gets into an accident and THEN buy insurance. Thus the cost will go far up.
3. They provide subsidies to make insurance cheaper. In theory. Since the insurance companies are barely regulated monopolies per state who now know they everyone has to buy insurance, they can raise rates (this is what happened with car insurance when it became mandatory).
The right-wingers are going crazy about it because it socializes health-care. The left-wingers are currently happy because they don’t realize just how much they got screwed. If/when this program starts to get implemented, I think they’ll start to realize how badly they got screwed.
People on the Internet who are from overseas tend to have no real understanding of America’s healthcare system. They don’t realize that the poor already get medical coverage for free (Medicaid) and that the elderly already get medical coverage (Medicare).
So in effect, all this bill really does is make it illegal to not have insurance.
Maybe they should use the same system to eliminate poverty. Just make it illegal to be poor.