Change of Mind

Until yesterday I, like many other Americans was not in love with the recent Supreme Court decision regarding the Affordable Healthcare Act. The law disturbed me. At the core of my dislike of the law is my fear that the company that I work for will phase out our generous healthcare package. In all reality, it will be more affordable to pay the per employee fine than to continue offering health insurance. I also fear loosing the availableness of our current system. Having participated in the breastcancer.org chat room I know that in countries with universal health care women commonly wait 3 months to get an acute mammogram or ct scan. I have been told by my doctors that if I'd had to wait 3 months I would have been in stage 4. Although I am not totally opposed to the idea of rationing (I will write about that in another post) I have not been happy with the resent guideline changes in mammogram screenings, psa titers and pap smears, and the timing of these guideline changes is very suspicious.

That being said, I was with my carpool buddy, who was equally unhappy about the Supreme Court's decision. He made a comment that got me thinking. He said that everyone says that the law is awful and a complete disaster coming at us, but when you ask them what is awful about it they can't tell you. He's right. Most people I know like that they can keep their children on their insurance until they are 26. I know I am enjoying that benefit. They like that if their child is discovered to have a disqualifing condition and they change jobs the insurance company can't refuse to cover their child. They like that insurance companies can no longer search for a reason to discontinue their coverage if they should have a heart attack or cancer.  They like that they don't have to pay for preventative care any longer. But most people don't really know what's in the law, they just don't like it. I think that comes from two directions. First, that the act was just shoved down our throats without it being explained to us and second our fears about what the act is going to do to our status quo. I know that beyond the provisions that I have already benefited from, I didn't really know what was in that law. So I went to Google and looked it up. If you'd like a clear, to the point explanation of the law you can find it at http:/www.healthcare.gov.


I was more impressed than depressed by what I found. I do have some concerns about the law. Though, it seems to me that the insurance industry got the blunt end of the stick when it came to it. So why did the insurance industry endorse this bill so heavily? Everything in business comes down to the bottom line and I think they are seeing a windfall. One of my concerns is the Accountable Care Organizations that doctors and hospitals are being encouraged to form. It seems right now that the provision is just for Medicare, but will it be applied universally once these organizations are set up? Will I be limited to using only Heartbreak Hill doctors, when some of my doctors work at Big Religion and some favor the Baby Factory? I'm also concerned about the loop holes that insurance companies will find to get around these laws once they are applied. I'm sure they were working on their out even while the law was being written. 


While republicans are screaming repeal, even they don't want parts of the act repealed. And I think that once everyone slices and dices the law is probably with us for good. So I think that that we would all do well to listen to Dr. Sidney Freedman.

"Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice - pull down your pants and slide on the ice."