The House Bill, explained in English, plus a rant.

There is a lot of confusion about the current healthcare bill, not just the horrible lies. (Why call them myths when there are clearly politicians lying for political gain?)

Here is my understanding of what’s going on. I am not an expert and welcome corrections if I have misinterpreted anything.

The House has a bill written down that’s over 1000 pages long. I’ve seen it, read parts of it, not the whole thing.
The Senate does not have a bill written down. They are still debating what should be in the bill.
Neither chamber has voted on anything yet. The two chambers mostly agree on the issues, but do differ on some points. That will have to be resolved before a final bill passes both chambers months from now. I expect that the final bill will likely be somewhat close to the current House bill.

The House bill proposes universal health care by forcing everyone to buy health insurance. If you don’t buy an approved plan, then you have to pay extra income taxes (2.5% extra). Approved plans must meet these Consumer Protection qualifications:

No Discrimination for Pre-Existing Conditions (Insurance companies will be prohibited from refusing you coverage because of your medical history.)
No Exorbitant Out-of-Pocket Expenses, Deductibles or Co-Pays (Insurance companies will have to abide by yearly caps on how much they can charge for out-of-pocket expenses.)
No Cost-Sharing for Preventive Care (Insurance companies must fully cover, without charge, regular checkups and tests that help you prevent illness, such as mammograms or eye and foot exams for diabetics.)
No Dropping of Coverage for Seriously Ill (Insurance companies will be prohibited from dropping or watering down insurance coverage for those who become seriously ill.)
No Gender Discrimination (Insurance companies will be prohibited from charging you more because of your gender.)
No Annual or Lifetime Caps on Coverage (Insurance companies will be prevented from placing annual or lifetime caps on the coverage you receive.)
Extended Coverage for Young Adults (Children would continue to be eligible for family coverage through the age of 26. )
Guaranteed Insurance Renewal (Insurance companies will be required to renew any policy as long as the policyholder pays their premium in full. Insurance companies won't be allowed to refuse renewal because someone became sick.)

If your current plan does not meet those requirement but you’re still happy with it and do not want to change, that’s okay, you don’t need to change. The plan you have will be “grandfathered” and you can keep it. And if you have a new baby, your baby can have the same plan. But your neighbor can’t buy the same plan after the bill passes because he’s not already grandfathered in the non-approved plan.

If you don’t like your plan, there will be many new options offered by the insurance companies that meet the new government regulations listed above. So you can choose which of those you would like to buy.

To make health insurance more affordable for all, the House is proposing the formation of a new healthcare plan, run by Washington. “Anybody*” can buy into the government plan, which initially will be one size fits all. Over the next few years, there will be more plans offered that provide different levels of coverage for different prices. The * exceptions are as follows:
• If you have Medicare, it will remain the same.
• If you qualify for Medicaid, you will remain in Medicaid.
• If you are military, you will have the military’s healthcare plan.

So in addition to the private insurance company options that are now better and improved with consumer protections, there is the government plan. You can choose any approved plan you like. If you have a non-approved plan and still want to keep it, you can keep it.

Okay. So basically, if you are against this healthcare bill, then you are AGAINST consumer protections. If you are against this bill, then you WANT Aetna, Cigna, United Healthcare, and Blue Cross to continue ripping you off. If you are against this bill, then you WANT the USA to go bankrupt from skyrocketing healthcare costs. That’s frankly Anti-American.

Sarah Palin and other politicians are TERRORIZING their own base for political gain. They want us to fear reform so they can get more money from pharmaceuticals and insurance companies. Terrorism is defined as “the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political purposes.” The fringe is terrorizing the rest of America by bring guns to town halls, displaying threatening posters, and disrupting public discourse. It’s rather ironic, is it not?

This healthcare bill WILL save us money in the long-term, and it will keep us healthier and happier.