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OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 5/31/12

Do You Still Want to Repeal Obamacare?

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Follow Me on Twitter     Message Mary Bell Lockhart

Do you really want the Supreme Court to rule the whole act unconstitutional? Do you really want to put the health insurance conglomerates back in complete control of your health care?   Then, to put it politely, what ARE you thinking?

 

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is over 2 years old.   Though not all provisions have kicked in, enough have to be of genuine benefit to millions of Americans already.   I'm one who's already benefited and you might be too.

 

2.5 million more young adults have insurance coverage thanks to the provision that allowed them to stay on their parents' plan until age 26.

 

More than 5 million seniors have saved more than $3.1 billion on prescription drug costs.   Some, caught in the "doughnut hole" where prescription coverage dropped off, got direct rebates of $250 and, in time, the doughnut hole will be complexly erased.

 

Millions of people (including me) have not paid a copayment for annual checkups and preventive care such as cancer screenings and contraceptives.   They're not free - we pay for those in our premiums.

 

Insurance companies can no longer drop your coverage when you most need it or deny benefits to any of the 17.5 million children with pre-existing conditions. 62,000 adults have been able to get insurance from Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plans and in 2014 everyone with pre-existing conditions must be insured.

 

When someone faces a devastating diagnosis, they no longer need to worry about their insurance having a lifetime limit on benefits. If they are uninsured, they will have access to new coverage when insurers refuse to offer it.

 

Insurance companies now have to justify excessive proposed rate hikes, with states establishing review procedures that limit annual increases.   Some rate hikes exceeding 10% have already been ruled improper and rolled back, benefiting millions of customers. (Unfortunately for Texans, the Texas Department of Insurance, under heavy pressure from lobbyists, is dragging its feet on this process.)

 

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Mary Bell Lockhart Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

I'm a retired public health worker focused these days on supporting a variety of progressive issues, such as criminal justice reform, energy efficiency, environmental protection, universal health care, civil rights, and worldwide peace and (more...)
 

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