In my last column, I said that the new health care bill should be upheld by the United States Supreme Court. Before it passed, millions of people could not get insurance, either because it was too expensive or because they had preexisting conditions and insurance companies refused to insure them. Many had no insurance because their employers did not offer it, or they were self-employed or unemployed. Being female was considered a preexisting condition, and women were charged more. I quoted from articles that reminded us that people actually died without insurance, or were forced into bankruptcy when their insurance company dropped them or set caps, and their illness cost more than the cap. The new healthcare law addressed these problems and many more, and so, while the law needs some fine tuning as we go forward, I said the Supreme Court should let the law stand.
This week, the Court did exactly that. And while Republican leaders insisted that they would repeal and replace, they do not have a plan to replace, and they will not be able to repeal. So, we need to work together to implement and improve our health care law. The time for the fighting is over. I held 13 town halls after we passed health care so I could discuss the law and its impact, and dispel myths, but in the political battle at that time, many facts were lost in the noise. Many people still worry that jobs will shrink, or the nation will go broke offering health care. (This last group would have had more worries if no steps had been taken to slow down cost increases.) Some small businesses, already struggling, worry that they will be unable provide health care.
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