March 23, 2014
Healthcare Signup: Time is Running Out!
By Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq.
(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Almost anyone striving to accomplish any significant goal or achievement will tell you that the challenges you face and the effort you dedicate to a successful completion are greatest near or at the end of the task, program or project. Academicians, artists, musicians, athletes and anyone who endeavors to overcome the routine challenges of life will agree. In less than two weeks, the single most important milestone in a comprehensive and improved healthcare system will be reached. Wait no longer. March 31, 2014 is the final day for initial enrollment for health insurance under the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare.
Although recent numbers of enrollees have reflected an uptick in participation, I have had major difficulty understanding the reluctance of greater numbers of citizens to enroll. There are a myriad of both altruistic and selfish reasons to enroll and promote the enrollment of family and friends. Other than the obvious racially or politically motivated interests of thwarting anything presented by President Barack Obama, I find it unreasonable to think that a significant portion of the populace would fail to take advantage of the benefits under the new law. Before I admonish you to jump on board this moving train, it might be prudent for me to review what I feel to be the most practical and important benefits that have been obscured by political rhetoric and ridiculous opposition-group propaganda.
· Expanded and better healthcare coverage provided to millions of uninsured Americans.
· Reduced uninsured health events - significant numbers of personal bankruptcies are linked to substandard or no medical insurance. Obamacare will significantly reduce these events, and in many cases eliminate them.
· Pre-existing conditions would not prevent healthcare coverage. Type 1 diabetes and disabilities are examples of conditions no longer excluded from insurance coverage.
· Ending gender discrimination in insurance cost and coverage. Pregnancy and other conditions unique to female physiology are no longer subject to premium "up-charges" or exclusion.
· Removal of life-time limits and insurance benefit caps.
· Insurance of adult-children through age 26 under their parents’ health plan.
· Establishment of Health (Insurance) Exchanges encourages marketplace competition and competitive pricing for health insurance policies.
In a 2009 letter to Congress, Bishop William Murphy, head of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, NY, and Chairman of the U. S. Bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, gave the church's position. It stated, "Reform efforts must begin with the principle that decent health care is not a privilege, but a right and a requirement to protect the life and dignity of every person. ... The bishops' conference believes health care reform should be truly universal and it should be genuinely affordable."
I won’t argue that Obamacare is the perfect plan, nor does the President make that claim. I am, however, sure that the future will hold modifications that will refine and improve it as we do with other new programs. I WILL argue that it is the perfect plan for NOW, and certainly much better than what we had.
After more than one-hundred years of legislative debate and wrangling, Obamacare will work to improve healthcare for all citizens and remove the hidden tax that all must pay to support the pattern of emergency room primary-care for those unable to afford the cost of treatment. It will restore the dignity and certainty of being able to assure personal and familial wellness based upon the best that medical technology has to offer. It will move us down the path of rejecting the status-quo that has determined that an individual's health and well-being must be determined by the size of her/his bank account. Why wait?
If You Have Not Yet Enrolled, Please Do So Immediately at Healthcare.gov! It's a Matter of Life or Death!
(Dr. E. Faye Williams is National Chair of the National Congress of Black Women, Inc. www.nationalcongressbw.org. 202/678-6788)