Saturday, March 20, 2010

It's Time for Change

The United States House of Representatives are scheduled to vote on the healthcare reform bill tomorrow. Republicans are unified in their opposition and the Democrats are scrambling to acquire the necessary votes to pass the legislation. The lead up to this epic vote as been peppered and tainted with propaganda, including but not limited talks and threats of “death panels”, “healthcare rationing”, and allegations of fraud and misuse of the well established and often used governing procedures of “reconciliation”.

Republicans cry “foul”, “socialism”, and warn of an insurmountable budget deficit, as millions of American – employed and unemployed; young and old; male and female; majority and minority – go without healthcare. They support sending billions overseas per day to fight terrorist, but deny investing in America’s greatest asset, its citizens. Republicans may argue they “didn’t have an opportunity to participate in the crafting of the bill”, but is it they didn’t have an opportunity to participate or that they purposely chose not to participate.

Regardless, the bill does have aspects that will benefit most Americans such as caps on coverage. Insurance companies will be prohibited from denying coverage to people with “preexisting conditions”; parents will be able to provide insurance coverage to their children until age 26 and small businesses, the life blood of American industry will be eligible for tax credits worth up to 50% of premiums. The healthcare bill is not perfect, but perfect should never be an obstacle to progress. It time that America starts taking steps toward the future.

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