Health Care Reform: President Obama’s Address to Congress
Health Care Reform: President Obama’s Address to Congress
What are the major issues regarding health care reform?
Many presidents and politicians have battled for health care reform. Both sides of the debate recognize something must be done, but yet finding middle ground that both agree on has been a challenge that has kept any progress from being made on reforming the current health care system.
What are the broad principles outlined in the speech?
President Obama described three main parts to his proposed health care reform: consumer protections for those with insurance, an exchange that allows individuals and small businesses to purchase coverage, and a requirement that all American’s have health insurance (2009). President Obama stressed that people with insurance won’t have to switch their plans or have their insurance change, just that there would be added laws for the client’s protection (2009).
With Obama’s proposed plan it would become against the law for an insurance company to deny coverage because of preexisting conditions, drop or water down coverage when the client gets sick, and the insurance company could not put a cap on how much coverage a client can receive in a given year or lifetime. Also, insurance companies would have a limit on how much they could charge for out-of-pocket expenses and would be required to cover, at no extra charge, routine checkups and preventative care. The second part that Obama outlined was an exchange that allows individuals and small businesses to purchase quality coverage at an affordable price, and part of this exchange would be the public option health care (2009).
And the last part of the reform is that everyone will be required to have health insurance, just like everyone is required to have car insurance. Obama expects the transition from the current health care to his proposed health care plan to take place over 4 years (2009).
How many people are uninsured in US?
Barak Obama said “Tens of millions are uninsured.” (2009) According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 46 million Americans, or 18 percent of the population under the age of 65, were without health insurance in 2007 (NCHC, 2009).
What is “a public option”?
The public insurance option is to keep insurance companies accountable, and provide a reasonable insurance option to Americans. This option would allow those without insurance to be able to get insurance this way. Taxpayers won’t be subsidizing this public insurance option; the public insurance option will have to be self sufficient and rely on the premiums it collects (Obama, 2009).
What are the main objections stated by opponents of President Obama’s plan?
The objections that Obama stated included that Obama plans to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens, that this plan will insure illegal immigrants, that under this plan federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and that this plan has the government taking over the whole health care system. President Obama stated that all these objections are false, and that these lies are being spread by insurance companies to make the public go against health care reform (2009).
Did the speech make the issues clearer or more confusing for you?
I had not done any research on the health care reform; everything that I knew was by word of mouth from friends. Hearing President Obama’s speech really helped make the issues much clearer for me, though there definitely are wrinkles to be ironed out before it becomes law.
How will health care reform as outlined by this speech affect your nursing practice?
Having everyone insured in America would change the dynamics of the patients that nurses would treat. There would be fewer fevers and other illnesses that went so long without treatment because the patient didn’t have insurance. Also, a lot of diseases and cancers would be caught earlier due to the routine office visits and procedures.
References
President Barak Obama. (2009, September). Health Care Reform. Speech Presented on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC.
National Coalition on Health Care (NCHC) (2009). Health Insurance Coverage. Retrieved September 13, 1009, from http://www.nchc.org/facts/coverage.shtml.