President Obama signs bill for U.S. healthcare reform

 

Today, President Obama signed a historical bill, recently approved by the House of Representatives, that will make changes to our country’s healthcare system. You’re probably hearing a lot about it and it might leave you with a lot of questions. (There are lots of grown-ups who have questions about it too!) Here is some information to help you out:

The purpose of health insurance is to help people pay for their medical needs. In the United States, health insurance in recent years has been working like an agreement between groups of people and companies. Everyone in the group pays the company a certain amount of money and, in exchange, the company agrees to cover the health expenses of each group member.

The idea is that even if one person in the group gets really sick, the amount of money contributed by the group as a whole will cover those expenses. Each person in the group might end up paying more than he or she gets back in coverage in a single year, but they have the assurance of knowing that if they happen to be the one who gets really sick, the company whom they pay will cover them. Because medical costs such as preventative care as well as hospital stays, visits to the doctor, medications, and other treatments can be very expensive, having insurance helps people to cover these costs if and when they need it. 

Not everyone agrees that our health insurance system can or should be changed. Those people that do think it needs improvements cite a variety of reasons why the system we’ve been using is not working as well as it could. 

For example, many people who have been advocating for change point to the problem that in the U.S., not everyone has health insurance. It’s estimated that tens of millions of Americans don’t have insurance, which can become a difficulty if those uninsured people become really ill. The reasons why certain people are not insured depend, but it is often that they cannot afford the amount of money that health insurance companies are asking them to pay in exchange for coverage. Some Americans also don’t have insurance because companies deny coverage to them based on pre-existing conditions, meaning that they already have an illness or medical need and the companies don’t want to cover the often-expensive costs of these conditions.

Another one of the big problems that many people see in the United States’ recent system for healthcare is that the costs of being insured are frequently rising. Many people receive insurance through their employers, but lots of smaller businesses cannot afford the costs of offering this coverage to their employees, and individuals often cannot afford these costs on their own if their employer doesn’t offer it. Similarly, a person who has lost their job can lose their health insurance with it, and sometimes cannot afford the cost of insuring themselves independently without the help of their company or their company’s rate.

Right about now, you might be wondering why exactly everything has to be so expensive!? This is again something that different people each have their own opinion about, because there are many factors contributing to the problem together. Some people point to the cost of doctor’s fees, while others blame prescription medication prices, the large number of medical tests that are often run on a patient, or the way that many people don’t have access to preventative care or don’t take good care of themselves to prevent illness. 

Since taking office, President Obama has made it a priority to make changes that will improve this troubled system. Finding a solution that fits the needs of the people, the doctors, and the companies who are all involved has been challenging. It’s also been difficult getting all of the members of Congress to agree on what the best solution possible would be!

The bill that President Obama signed today was approved by the House of Representatives on Sunday, March 21st and is very similar to a bill that was already approved by the Senate. With President Obama’s signature now on the bill, some of its provisions will go into effect right away. But before everything is complete, changes that were made to the bill by the House will be passed on for approval by the Senate and then President Obama will have to give everything his signature one final time. Different parts of the bill will then go into effect over a period of coming months and years. 

The new bill is meant to provide healthcare coverage to approximately 32 million people who have been uninsured. Under the new legislation, companies will no longer be allowed to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions. People who are uninsured because they cannot afford the costs will be offered subsidies (assistance). There will also be more options for attaining insurance because the bill will create government-regulated “marketplaces” from which people can get their coverage. The bill will also require certain businesses to offer coverage to their employees or else to pay a fee. Likewise, the majority of people will be required to have some sort of coverage, or else they too will pay a fee.

Many people are worried that the new changes won’t bring improved results and that they’ll end up accidentally raising costs instead of lowering them. The healthcare system in the United States is likely to continue changing and evolving as the needs of the citizens change. No matter what, the best thing you can do is take care of your health by eating right, exercising, and getting plenty of sleep! The more we all take care of our own bodies, the less medical needs we’ll all have!