Health care reform was needed
I am sick and tired of the political dialogue on health care. Only in America would some cut off their foot to be dogmatic. This is how I see Republicans. They have been unwilling to work with the president. They refuse to recognize that health care reform was very badly needed in this country.
Is the health care reform perfect? No. However, it is a start. Republicans wanting to repeal the health care reform rather than improve it are behaving like stubborn children.
What does the current health care reform provide me and my family?
1) Ability to get insurance since I was laid off.
2) Insurance agents have told me that I will be denied insurance as I have mild high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type II diabetes. I am on medication for all three and so are 25-30 million people in the United States.
3) The choice of providing health coverage for a child after they finish school. My daughter is in university and can be covered under a family health plan.
4) Freedom to change jobs without worrying about losing health insurance.
5) It frees Americans from discrimination when insurance companies deny women health insurance because they are pregnant, or refuse to provide coverage to children who are born with disabilities.
6) In 2014, it will protect adult Americans from discrimination when insurance companies deny coverage for type II diabetes, high cholesterol, mental illness, etc.
7) It provides seniors with the freedom to get free preventive care, lower cost prescription drugs, and Medicare that they can count on.
8) It gives families freedom from worry about losing their insurance, or having it capped unexpectedly if someone is in an accident or becomes sick.
9) It frees Americans from the fear of insurance companies raising premiums by double digits with no recourse or accountability.
Republicans want to unravel the law that holds insurance companies in check. They want to increase the deficit by giving tax cuts to the wealthiest 2 percent of this country and rolling back the Affordable Care Act.
Neerja Bylsma
Lake Zurich