Health reform law

By Will Parry

An imperfect bill? Certainly.

At the same time, an historic breakthrough for the American people?

Absolutely.

After weeks of harsh partisan clashes in both House and Senate, coupled with intense off-stage negotiations and compromises, at long last, on Tuesday, March 23, President Barack Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act of 2010.

The President declared that the legislation “enshrines the core principle that everybody should have some basic security when it comes to their health care.”

That “core principle” has been disgracefully abused and trampled on by the medical-industrial complex -- above all, by the health insurance industry – that dominates the U.S. health care system.

The legislative process was unusually strident, messy and prolonged, but despite the powerful tug and pull of lavishly-financed special interests, the measure finally adopted fully deserves the term “historic.”

Yes, the law seems likely to enrich health insurance companies with the premiums of an estimated 16 million new customers. But it will be an insurance industry operating under totally new rules.

No rejections based on pre-existing conditions. No rescissions – the cutting off of benefits – just because you get sick or injured. No annual limits on how much health care they’ll pay for.

Despite strong public support, the law has no public option, but the need for that critical feature continues, and the demand for it to be amended into the law will continue as well.

The bill will cut the deficit by $130 billion over ten years, and by an estimated $1.2 trillion in the following ten years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The significance of the reform is underscored by considering the outlook if the bill had failed. The Urban Institute applied its computer model to a scenario in which there would be no reform. Here’s what it found:

“Over the next decade in every state, the percent of the population that is uninsured will increase, employer-sponsored coverage will continue to erode, spending on public programs will balloon, and individual and family out-of-pocket costs could increase by more than 35%.” The number of uninsured Americans could soar to as many as 65 million over the decade, the Urban Institute predicted.

In contrast, enactment of the new law will ultimately insure an estimated 32 million currently uninsured Americans, will assist small employers in providing coverage, and will address many of the out-of-pocket expenses families are now encountering.

Throughout the long legislative battle, Congressional Republicans remained a stubbornly opposed bloc, denouncing the bill as a “socialist takeover” of health care and uttering dire predictions about what it would lead to.

As the President and Congress turn to the crisis of unemployment, Republican intransigence seems likely to continue. “There will be no cooperation for the rest of the year,” Senator John McCain (R-AZ) said flatly.

How well that will fly at the polls in November remains to be seen. Party leaders may loathe the health care reform law, but as Michael Moore mischievously points out, “Republicans will get better health care, too!”