From an article, earlier today:
Six Questions About Obamacare Answered
And yes, it's good, yes, it's important and yes, people should read it.
But they won't.Even then, however, here's why we need this legislation and so badly:
5. Why is this happening (and will it really make a difference)?
The average cost of a three-day hospital stay is $30,000. Fixing a broken leg costs $7,500. Essentially, the government stepped in to protect consumers from debt and bankruptcy due to unmanageable health insurance costs. You’ll get a lot of free preventive care (a wide range of health services, including HIV screenings, flu shots, herpes screenings, diet counseling for high risk folks, mammograms, well-woman visits, contraception and depression screenings). It holds insurance companies accountable for rate increases, and if they don’t abide, you may get a rebate in the mail. If you made a honest mistake on your application, your insurance company is now prohibited from arbitrarily canceling your coverage. It’s estimated that 19 million young adults between 18 and 34 don’t have health coverage, largely due to cost. Under Obamacare, a whopping 17 million of 19 million uninsured young people are likely eligible for subsidies or Medicaid under Obamacare. Note: Know that if you’ve been covered with health insurance since March 23, 2010, you may have a grandfathered plan, in which case you must carefully read the fine print, as some of these provisions will not apply. For instance, grandfathered plans don’t necessarily need to cover preventive care for free (more on this below).
We have the most expensive health care system in the world, too. And we have the worst health outcomes of the top 17 industrialized nations. The top cause of bankruptcy in America is one health care "event." I'll stop there. And people don't think this needs fixing?
