Let us now praise the virtue of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Last night, the House narrowly passed a sweeping health-care reform bill, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, bringing America one step closer to finally guaranteeing health care for all its citizens, not just those who could afford it.
I recently characterized "selfless virtue" as generous, beneficent, kind, and cooperative. In passing this legislation, the House demonstrated all four of these qualities.
Not that all of the Representatives displayed those qualities. The bill passed only very narrowly, 220-215, and Georgia Representative Jack Kingston, who voted against it, was quoted in the New York Times saying, “This bill is a wrecking ball to the entire economy.” Fortunately, my elected representative in Congress, John Lewis, voted in favor of the bill, as did Sanford Bishop, who represents southwest Georgia.
By now, we've all heard the statistics - at 15.5% of GDP, America spends more per capita on health care than any other nation on Earth, yet we rank 40th in life expectancy, behind Cuba and Costa Rica. The American death rate per capita is higher than India's, and our infant mortality rate trails Canada's, Australia's, South Korea's and most of Europe's. Statistically, your chances of surviving birth and living a long life are significantly diminished if you had the misfortune of being born into the current American health-care system.
We've given the insurance companies and the private sector the chance to provide us with our health care with disastrous - one can even say fatal - results, so it's high time to try something else.
2 comments:
"We've given the insurance companies and the private sector the chance to provide us with our health care with disastrous - one can even say fatal - results, so it's high time to try something else." Almost all of this bill continues the dominance of the insurance companies. At best, the Public Option as it is formulated, will serve 6 million. And that, if it isn't stripped out of the Senate bill. Hardly a great victory if you me. (I've been uninsured almost 8 years, but have a job that pays slightly more than poverty level wages, so this issue dramatically effects me. Mandating that I must buy a plan, and then saying that insurance companies will somehow make it affordable, does nothing for people like me.)
Nathan, best of luck with your difficult situation.
We all seem to be getting different information about this bill. I myself would like to have seen more, but from what I've seen and heard, the House Bill, if enacted, would cover 36 million of the currently uninsured, or 96% of those eligible. And while it would require everyone to have health insurance, there would be hardship waivers for those who can't afford it, and 95% of small businesses would be exempt.
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