Labor & Employment Law

Tell Us the Real Story of Health Care Reform: Yours

By Mike Hall

House Republicans are now officially in charge and their very first item of business is their move to repeal health care reform. Of course, these Republican lawmakers will never have to worry about where their health care is coming from. It?s coming from you and me and every other taxpayer who foots the bill for their health coverage.

Tomorrow, they set the stage for their show trial of the Affordable Care Act, and next week they will vote on repealing the law. What do Republicans want to repeal? A health care reform program that will bring health care to nearly 30 million people, reduce the deficit by $230 billion over the next decade and constrict the near-unlimited ability of giant health insurance companies to screw consumers.

Republicans will spend hours on the House floor ranting and spinning lies about the new law. We need to show how health care reform is helping real people and you can be a big part of the fight against the Republican demagoguery of health care reform.

Many parts of the new law already are in effect and helping tens of millions of American families get quality health care. We want to hear your story about how the new health care reform law has helped you, your family, neighbors or friends.

Tell us your personal story here. You also can comment on the stories from working men and women.

Here are some of the ways health care reform is helping working families.

• Insurance companies can no longer deny coverage to children with pre-existing conditions, and young people can stay on their parents? policies until age 26. Have your kids been helped?
• Insurance companies can?t drop people from coverage when they become sick or put a lifetime cap on benefits. Have you or has anybody in your family, especially someone with a serious illness, benefited?
• Insurance companies must cover preventive care such as mammograms, annual physicals and cancer screenings without deductibles or co-pays. Has this new rule helped you?
• For Medicare recipients, the new law already has provided a $250 prescription drug rebate and this year will lower drug costs even more and eventually close the donut hole, the gap in coverage when seniors must pay full price for their needed medications. Has this helped you pay for needed prescriptions?

We can?t go backward. We can?t go back to letting insurance companies refuse coverage to sick children, limit our medical care or bring back lifetime and annual caps on benefits that drive more families into bankruptcy. Join the fight. Tell us your story.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on January 06, 2011 (boomark / email).