The beauty of working in a bipartisan firm is the spirited debate that occurs among us – whether it’s across a desk, a conference table or waiting for the water to boil in the kitchen. (Those who have read my partner’s recent blog know exactly what I mean.)
You can imagine the animated conversations we’ve had in the last several days as the Republicans have put their best fool forward in a 21-hour salute to … nothing. Several of us have watched with amusement as the Republicans turn against each other. Those of us who are Dems have definitely enjoyed the food fight.
Unfortunately, it’s serious business that has gone from amusement to amazement as the GOP’s rants have led to a government shutdown. Really?
Even Congressman Mike Rogers says, “Pick your fights where you can win.”
If I’m not mistaken, the Affordable Care Act passed more than three years ago. That was the time for debate – and there was plenty of it – but those arguments are old news. The Affordable Care Act is law and plenty of people were waiting for it to go into effect Tuesday, as witnessed by the huge demand that brought the new, untried system to a halt.
That’s right: HUGE DEMAND. There are millions of people who have no health insurance and can’t wait to get coverage. Are there glitches in the system? Heck, yeah – just like there are glitches when anything new hits the market. It happens, fixes are made, and we adjust.
Don’t get me wrong. JT and I were a little surprised when our current health insurer notified us they would no longer be offering our current plan. But they were required by law to advise us that they are changing up their current policies to meet the new requirements.
This isn’t a bad thing, folks. In fact, the new requirements are critically important to healthy lifestyles, including coverage for office visits, emergency room visits, hospital visits, pediatric services including oral and vision, maternity, newborn, mental health and substance abuse services, prescription drugs, rehab services, lab services, and preventive and wellness services. Under the new law, you can’t be dropped if you’re sick, or denied if you have a pre-existing condition, you can’t be charged more if you’re female, insurance companies will have to justify any rate increase over 10 percent a year, they can’t use more than 20 percent of your premium for administrative expenses, and there is no annual or lifetime limit on what they will pay out.
This is the essence of what is good about the Affordable Care Act. There are millions of people out there with no coverage who land in emergency rooms every day – but it’s not free care. Any hospital exec will be happy to whip out the amount of uncompensated care they deliver every year. And we’re already picking up the tab.
So let’s embrace what is great about our society – like ensuring everyone has access to basic health care – rather than complaining about a new system. This new law may end up costing business owners like John and me a bit more, but we really can afford it. And I for one believe it is worth making sure that every man, woman and child in our country has health care coverage.
One of the great things about Americans is that we are a caring, generous community. As my friend Colleen says, “It’s who we are. We take care of each other – especially the poorest among us. And if we don’t, gosh, who are we?”
Who are we indeed.
