At long last, after years of vitriolic opposition, America is finally joining the ranks of the other developed nations and offering a rudimentary form of universal health care to her citizens. While there’s sure to be some rollout technical glitches and such, HealthCare.Gov, the site for those without employer plans to comparison shop for healthcare insurance and see what subsidies are available, is now online. [The plans, start on January 1, 2014, so most people will probably wait until December, but consumers can start checking them out now.]
So between now and the 2014 elections, the public will get a chance to try out the Affordable Care Act and see if they like it. If they do, then universality will be the foundation for our healthcare system. If they don’t, then Democrats will lose big, as we should. A minority of House Republicans, with the backing of the Speaker, are utterly desperate to prevent the public from seeing the benefits of a law that has already passed. That is what the government shutdown fight is about and what the debt ceiling fight is about.
The Republican Party is bending its entire will, staking its very soul, fighting to its last breath, in service of a crusade to....
Make sure that the working poor don't have access to affordable health care. I just thought I'd mention that in plain language, since it seems to get lost in the fog fairly often. But that's it. That's what's happening. They have been driven mad by the thought that rich people will see their taxes go up slightly in order to help non-rich people get decent access to medical care.
But they are failing. We held the line. Now we just have to minimize the damage that their sabotage will do to the nation.
As ever, speaking for myself, and not the employer. Title from a catchy Ari DeFranco song that Monica introduced me to. [It isn’t actually that appropriate to this crisis, but I like the song. I’ve also fixed a few typos(with Kate’s help) after posting.]
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