Post 9- The Implementation of the Affordable Care Act and The Meaning of Matthew

Hey friends! Now I hate to start off a good post with some bad news, but I'm afraid that I am going to have to hold off on blogging some when school gets here. I'm for sure not going to blog on Mondays anymore, but may update every other Tuesday. But we shall see. I will still share on Favebook when a new post becomes available.

Now on to some exciting news: the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act is almost here! Now for those of you who don't know, here are some of the landmark components of the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" aka Obamacare:

• No lifetime limits on money for procedures
• Insurance companies have to use 80% of your premium payments on health procedures; if more than 20% is used otherwise, the extra is to be refunded.
• Employers with more than 50 employees are to provide coverage to their workers. 
• Young adults can stay on parents' insurance plan until age 26 (That's me!)
• Medicaid expansion to those below 138% of the Federal Poverty Line (about  $32,000 a year and under). 
• New online marketplaces, where premiums will be much cheaper because of competition for your business.
• Individual mandate that everyone have insurance, or face penalty tax. (If someone goes to the ER, they are not turned away. They are treated and the hospital loses money, so prices go up for everyone else. Same logic that applies to what happens when someone steals from the store and prices go up for everyone else, not to say that those two scenarios are comparable. This prevents that). 
• Tax incentives to individuals who purchase their own healthcare
• Women will no longer have to pay higher premiums. Having a uterus is no longer a pre-existing condition. 

All of these are major provisions of Obamacare. Now, to me, all of these sound pretty great! To me, healthcare is a basic human right. As I said earlier, in my SNAP post, food and healthcare are human rights that an industrialized nation such as the U.S. should invest in and provide to its citizens in a fiscally responsible way if they can not procure them for themselves. Now, there is a lot of political debate over Obamacare, but it may not be for reasons that you think. If you care to venture onto opensecrets.org, you can look and see who politicians get their money from. Now, if you care to venture over to my friend Mitch McConnell's page, you will see that he has received half a million dollars from insurance companies since 2010, when the Affordable Care Act passed. Coincidental that Senator McConnell is one of the chief voices against the ACA. Insurance companies exist to make profits, and this law is for affordable care. You do the math and figure out which side seems right.
In the latest news, we have a group of extremist senators who want to shut down the government in order to defund Obamacare. This thought comes after the 40th vote to repeal the bill. Now, we pay our politicians to work, yes? Is it not a waste of time and thus our tax dollars if the House of Representatives votes 40 TIMES to do something that will go nowhere in the Senate and the President would veto anyway? Now if the government were to be shutdown, Obamacare would remain funded because it is part of what's called "mandatory spending" which the government has to spend no matter what. However, social security payments and military paychecks would go unpaid. So basically those threatening a shutdown would hold seniors and soldiers hostage for nothing, because Obamacare is going to be funded no matter what. Hopefully the political gamesmanship can cease and the process of insuring the uninsured can begin. For example, there are 640,000 uninsured people in Kentucky. However, 308,000 will gain coverage through Medicaid expansion while the other 332,000 will buy healthcare in the online marketplaces where they will receive discounts and tax refunds for purchasing insurance.
So what do we do then? Well the first thing is to educate yourself, especially if you are one of the 640,000 uninsured Kentuckians I mentioned. Visit healthcare.gov and read up on some of the provisions that affect you. But, if you already have insurance, you don't have to do anything! The benefits of no lifetime limits and coverage of your children until age 26 will happen automatically. Also brush up on facts and avoid fear-mongering lies. You can keep your doctor, wait times won't go up, and it is not a government scheme. Premiums are going to go down and health insurance is rising at the slowest rate in years. Remember friends, Social Security and Medicare were once very unpopular, but are they going anywhere anytime soon? This is probably the most important post I have written, so be educated and find facts on this. Don't believe the scare tactics and if you know someone who is uninsured direct them to healthcare.gov. It will be the law of the land, so let's make sure that those who need it can use it effectively. Watch Ms. Karen Finney explain some more.Or, if you are pressed for time, watch the second video where an actual doctor explains healthcare.

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In my short read this week, I refer you to "The Meaning of Matthew" by Judy Shepard. Now if you weren't a little guy or girl back in 1998 when Matthew Shepard was murdered, you probably remember the news story. However, this book provides insight into the story of Matthew and his family. It really is one of my favorite books. LGBT persons, their families, and allies all have a way to relate to this book. Seriously buy it here or if I know you personally, you can buy it. Til next time, give life, "The Meaning of Matthew", and Obamacare a deeper read. Good night and happy reading! :)