The Health Reform Law Promises Affordable Health Insurance to Every Family Member
>> Dec 16, 2011
Barack Obama made it clear from the start: he was going after healthcare, to ensure that all Americans would be able to afford the care they needed as and when it was required. That’s the Health Reform Law referred to in this title, which among other things promises to make health insurance affordable no matter who you are.
To illustrate the importance of this I would like to start with a story. When I was travelling around the States, I met a girl who has asthma. I didn’t know she had asthma until she started having a fit in the middle of the night. She was turning blue and couldn’t breathe for minutes at a time.
Naturally enough I wanted to call the paramedics. Her friends wouldn’t let me – and neither, when she could speak at all, would she – because she didn’t think her health insurance would pay for it and her parents couldn’t afford to pay for it themselves. So she nearly died – she didn’t thankfully, but she must have been extremely close.
Apart from making me extremely happy to live in a country where there is a state funded health system (yes it might be rubbish but at least I won’t be left to die in the street if I can’t breathe), the incident forced me to look for the first time at the alternative. A place where you have to pay for everything that you need – from a paramedic rescue to prescription drugs. Given that this place had – and has – at least as many extremely impoverished people as my own country. How could they afford health care?
The answer of course is that they couldn’t. So lots of them either died, or lived in pain for years. Then the Health Reform Law happened. Prior to the Law, Americans who weren’t employed (most jobs in the States carry medical insurance as part of the pay package) and couldn’t afford to pay were uninsured and hence in grave danger of living shorter lives in much worse health. The US government is subsidising the costs, so people too poor to pay their own health insurance will be insured anyway. Effectively it is now law in the US that every US citizen is covered.
Of course, that means that people who can’t pay have no choice about what health plan they subscribe to: they get what they’re given and can presumably expect exceptions greater than on a “normal” or non subsidised policy. Small business owners are also being offered a way to get cheaper health insurance – by signing up for insurance exchanges, which drive guaranteed large numbers to insurers on the understanding that many thousands of cheaper insurance policies will bring in more overall revenue than a few hundred more expensive ones.
Healthcare is viewed by every civilised human as a right bestowed on them by the state in which they live. With the Health Reform Law, that right is finally being satisfied.
About the Author:
The above article is written and composed be Britney Danila. She writes articles in her free time which are related to Yazmin Lawsuits, health insurance, healthy plans etc.
The above article is written and composed be Britney Danila. She writes articles in her free time which are related to Yazmin Lawsuits, health insurance, healthy plans etc.
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1 komentar:
In developed countries, insurance is a must for every citizen, but in countries that are developing, need a heightened awareness to have insurance.
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