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President Obama’s plan to make health insurance more affordable for Americans appears to be on the up. Speaker Nancy Pelosi is rallying House Democrats to support Obama’s plan. By the time, Democrats pull together they could pull off the use of a parliamentary device known as budget reconciliation to pass the health bill. If it is passed, America’s health care system will never look the same again. Here is what you can expect if Obama’s health bill comes to life.
1. Legislate the elimination of preexisting conditions so that everyone can get health insurance regardless of their health status;
2. Create state based insurance exchanges where individuals and small businesses can come together to purchase insurance in a more open and competitive marketplace;
3. Create standard benefit packages so that everyone in this country can have baseline protections and coverage levels and understand what is included and what is clearly not covered in their plan;
4. Require everyone in the country to carry medical insurance or pay a penalty. This is a key component to insurance reform since without expanding the pool of insured people with more healthy people, we could not expect the insurance industry to survive. It is also important to point out that a national insurance plan is not needed to establish universal coverage. Given the complexities of our health care system, we can accomplish meaningful reform without a government run plan. Any reform should attempt to fix what does not work and preserve what does.
Tags: affordable insurance, health bill, health insurance, President Obama
