So let's talk Healthcare Reform.
Many Democrats would support the US eventually working towards universal healthcare. That is, a government run system that gave everyone health insurance. Which could work one of two ways, with private doctors and hospitals being paid by the government (like Medicare is now, for old or disabled people) or with doctors and hospitals run directly by the government. Universal healthcare has worked quite well in Canada. But because that is probably not going to happen... politicians in the US just simply pushing for reform. The proposal would still allow way more people to be covered, but it's not quite provided by the government. It requires employers and other people to pay this or that or something or the other and it's confusing. Those people would put money towards some sort of fund to be used for their employees to pick their own insurance accordingly. It would also require everyone to have some sort of health coverage. Either privately, or through their work. Obama's original plan also has a "public option" where people could get really cheap health care through the government. But covering everyone and all these regulations will cost like 100 billion dollars a year. And the US is in well, financial trouble. The good news being, our national government has the right to spend money they don't even have. Unlike states, who are pretty much just screwed if they have no money. There is a proposed tax increase for people who decide not to be covered anyways. Which is like a penalty, because you're breaking the law. Like if you don't have car insurance. Except you can still drive. Hospitals for many years have been required to treat any "emergency" patients who come through their doors until that person is stable, even if they don't have health coverage. Buuuut you still have to pay the bill for your stay. Aaaand if you don't have money, that sucks. Apparently more than 50% of bankruptcies in the US have something to do with medical costs. So it sounds like a good idea to improve healthcare. And the proposed changes would most definately improve quality, but possibly cause costs to be higher. Nobody likes paying more. Republicans also believe that government-run healthcare leads to inefficiencies and bad quality care. But it seems like it's going to be awhile before anybody does anything. There are currently 2 versions of the bill, one in the House of Representatives and one in the Senate. They passed their bills, and should be working on making the 2 bills fit together. But the Democrats lost their 60th vote in the Senate, because Massachusetts got that Republican guy elected who is definately not going to agree to the bill. So even if they do make a version of the 2 fit together, that new bill isn't going to pass through the Senate again. Instead, they are considering attempting to pass the bill that has already passed in the Senate, in the House. And once it becomes a law, they will propose ammendments to that bill that won't require 60 votes to pass, called a "reconciliation." That reconciliation would simply need a majority vote to pass, not 60 votes. So the Democrats are pushing, and the Republicans are overly frustrated. The Republicans claim that everything needs to be started all over again. John McCain (who lost the Presidential race but is still a Senator from Arizon) claims that if President Obama attempts to govern in "the middle" rather than "[going] hard left," more Republicans would support a new bill with quite a few changes in their favor. But a top White House advisor said,
“The president will not walk away from the American people, will not hand them over to the tender mercies of health insurance companies that take advantage.”
Basically, it's a huge mess.
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