Health car reform only beginning

What the recent fracas over health care reform showed exceptionally well was just how entrenched corporate money is in our politics, especially the Republican Party, who fought very hard to protect the interests of private for-profit health care insurance companies.

While using the insurance model to pay for health care may not be the best idea, it is what Americans have chosen, at least for now.

The passage of the health care reform bill helps to correct some of the problems created when a private, for-profit company earns its profit from controlling a patient's access to health and in many instances, denying access. For example it ends rescissions, bans discrimination against children with pre-existing conditions, bans lifetime limits on coverage, bans restrictive annual limits on coverage, provides immediate help for the uninsured until exchange is available, and prohibits discrimination based on salary.

While there are still problems with the health care system, this bill at last starts the discussion and moves higher the priority of a person's health in relation to corporate interest. The job has just begun.

Jeffery J. Biss

Elgin