For Better or for Worse

The new health care program being proposed by President Barack Obama’s administration poses a wide variety of questions. We wondered how it would affect our generation, mainly the upcoming college graduates who will be entering the work force. The affects are uncertain, the risk may be high, but who is going to take care of the citizens that can’t afford health care right out of college. Like everything, there are many views and opinions in the media; we strive to offer the voice of a college student. There are those who are for the health care reform and those who think the right to health care isn’t for everyone. Is the government turning more socialist under the leadership of President Obama, or could it be that the American slogan of “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” will finally become more of a true statement than ever before.

Under President Obama’s new health care plan, he favors students that are covered by their parent’s health insurance, allowing them to retain that health coverage until they turn 26, instead of the current policy that ends coverage of students after they graduate. Myself being covered by my parent’s health insurance, this would be an un-believable stress reliever, college graduates have enough on their plate with having to find a job, a place to live and to start paying back their student loans after 6 months. The last thing someone under that amount of pressure should have to worry about is what would happen if they got sick and couldn’t get the proper care they needed.

The plan to prevent health insurance companies from denying single person coverage because of a pre-existing condition would also help not only recently graduated students but also everyone who has medical problems that need medical attention. In one case, Rachel Peck, a 20-year-old junior at the University of Maryland, who introduced President Obama at the as he spoke to the college, has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and was able to receive the treatments she needed because she was covered by her parents health insurance. Under the current health care plan, Rachel would have been dropped from her parents and or college health insurance, preventing her from continuing her treatments if it was needed. Obama’s health reform would have given Rachel the best chance at getting the treatment she needed beyond her college career. She would have the option of staying under her parent’s health insurance until she turns 26, which would give her the proper care she needed while she searched for a job to pay off her college expense. She would even have the option of picking health coverage that would not turn her down because she has cancer and it wouldn’t cost too much. The health of our future should not have a price tag on it. With the current health care situation, Rachel will have a hard time getting health insurance apart from her school and parents because of this “pre-existing condition.”

Speaking at the University of Maryland, Obama went on to say, “Just like the change that began in our campaign, it starts with people, especially young people, who are determined to take this nation’s destiny into their own hands.”

:President Obama greeting students of MU. Baltimore Sun.

Change, it’s not always for the best. The evolution of a society as a whole takes years. The Obama administration is looking to instill a new health care plan and they want this change to happen overnight. There can be no guarantee that the majority will even accept this change. The government has very unique ways of concealing truths from the general public. We are here to expose some of those truths and figure out what exactly is going on with the current health care scare.

First of all, the Obama plan states that the insurance companies may not raise the price of coverage for a customer. Because the prices cannot go up, customers will be paying less, and so insurance companies will be making less of a profit. This could cause some of the companies to go under entirely, due to lack of funds.

The numbers have been run. It was said by Democrats that the health care reform would cost $848 billion over 10 years. If only one percent of the spending came from the first four years that counts 2010-2013. If you begin the spending in year 2014, the cost has already rocketed to $1.8 trillion. The years 2014-2023 would add up to $2.5 trillion. Additionally, President Obama would be forcing the voluntarily uninsured to purchase health insurance. These mandated costs would be counted as a tax and with these numbers added to the ones I previously mentioned, the total cost rounds off at $6.25 trillion. Diving even more deeply into the cost of this insurance which is supposedly better than what we have now; this policy would mandate that states cover a higher percentage of Medicaid costs, leading to an increase in taxes. Crunching these numbers, this doesn’t seem like a good idea at all.

An insurance company also may not drop a customer completely when they need that coverage the most. This prevents customers from being stranded in debt, and without an insurance provider. This forces the companies to keep a customer even though they might have chronic health problems. Having to pay for these ongoing health issues could also cause these companies to lose money, and go under fast.

Under the proposed plan, there will be a new insurance marketplace created. This will allow people to shop around for the best insurance prices, and allow them to shop for the cheapest plan that will meet their specific needs. For existing businesses, however, this means that there will be competition, and that each company is going to have to fight for their customers. Every company is going to have to create prices that can compete with their fellow insurance companies, or else they will lose their business.

There is no evidence that saving money for the average American is the main concern of the Obama administration, so honestly, there has got to be something underneath this health care reform that is being hidden from the public.

Capitalism is going underground and socialism is rising to the occasion. President Obama wants to now control our health care, and have it be a legal requirement for everyone. Putting aside the effects of current health care plans and ignoring what that means for business and the downward spiraling economy, how is this really going to help. Former president Bill Clinton and Sen. John Breaux proposed this idea last February. Hillary Clinton also attempted to pass a health care bill back in 1994. President Barack Obama’s plan is to destroy the American health care system to turn America into “a full-blown Euro-socialist state” David Limbaugh said in an article on townhall.com

However, information is being brought to the surface and it is clear that there is no rational explanation for Obama-care other than his need to expand government control over every aspect of American lives. The only goal that is apparent is that it would offset the deficit, and only temporarily. It was noted that there is no intention of immediately cutting out private insurances however; they would be subject to Federal regulation.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele had some very serious points in an interview at the National Press Club last Monday. “This is an unprecedented government intrusion into the private sector”, “It is more debt that our children will have to pay because this reckless administration has an un-restrain able urge to splurge.” His points were that the government is encroaching too close on individual freedoms and responsibilities. They control almost everything; there is little that the people can do for themselves anymore. And his second point laid heavily on the concept that this health care will be cheap and required by everyone. Well, Mr. President, the money has to come from somewhere and being in a recession right now, where is this money going to come from; a loan that will need to be paid back eventually and by our children. Following generations will pay for health care that’s established now; it’s like how the younger generations are dealing with global warming even though we never contributed to the problem. Is it fair to burden the generations to come with a debt they may never see benefits from?

The socialism outlook for this public option plan is hard to decipher. The government has done so well to hide any true intentions for this plan but as Phil Kerpen says in an article on HumanEvents.com, “the ‘public plan option,’ may also fail as its intended purpose is more widely understood.” The payment for this bill is a single-payer system and it’s been proven that Americans don’t generally like a single-payer system because it’s characterized by socialism.

Don’t get me wrong I don’t disagree that something needs to be done to help get our economy back on the fast track. But starting with a government health care system may not be the right thing to do. This is the beginning of an end. Socialism may not be a bad idea, in some other countries it seems to work for them. But when our freedoms are taken away, even as simple as the choice to be insured or not, people will start to act out. Our founding fathers are turning in their graves right now at just the proposal of this socialist reform.

Whether you are a college student getting ready to graduate and beginning to worry about the reality of providing your own health insurance or a republican fearing a socialist take-over and letting money out weigh the health of our nation. There can be no doubt in your mind that something must be done do insure the health of every single living American. The fact that some citizens are worried about the amount of money that might be added to the national debt due to the reform is completely understandable. But the fact that most republicans are willing to spend more of the national budget on things like war, weapons and lobbying for big insurance and drug companies, and not even thinking twice before shutting out the idea to spend some tax money to make sure every American does not go without health insurance is appalling. Health reform can happen and needs to happen if we want to have a nation that lives up to what it has always promised.