To follow-up on last weeks post about Lance’s activity and
thoughts and feelings surrounding Congress, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius finally
came to speak in front of Congress.
Lance was specifically concerned with the amount of insurance companies
in New Jersey are cancelling their plans and completely rewriting
policies. Originally, if policies
met the majority of the government’s standards and benefits that had been
outlined in Obamacare, the plans would be able to stay the same. There was also an agreement as to
certain plans that would be grandfathered according to the regulations written
out by the Department of Health and Human Services. According to Representative Lance this is not a standard
that Sebelius and the rest of the government are abiding by.
He
used the second hearing during his meeting with the Energy and Commerce Committee
to address this and asked Sebelius if she actually had considered a potential
$5 copay as a substantial enough
change to fully revamp and cancel certain insurance plans. She never really directly answered
Lance’s question. He didn’t
understand as to why these types of plans would not in fact be grandfathered. It is not a fair thing to do to the
American people who may have had such specific plans that would cause them to
have to completely change their previous plan and have to now pay for one that
would cost quite a bit more.
Representative Lance argued that “Americans do not want to be forced to
purchase a product that provides benefits-like maternity care or drug
rehabilitation-that they may not need.”
I have to agree with Lance here on this point; however, I would push
back on what he is saying and have to ask if he is generalizing too much. I feel that here he is pointing out an
issue that is more ideological than an issue that most Americans would agree
with him on or an issue with the actual mechanics behind the Act.
This
has specifically affected individuals across the United States, but even more
specifically many New Jerseyans and then even mores specifically many families
and individuals from Lance’s 7th District. Specifically there have been around 800,000 people in New
Jersey (that’s a whole nine percent) have seen their health insurance within
the individual and small group market be completely cancelled. However, Lance is not solely placing
blame on Secretary Sebelius. He
specifically made a comment to the press saying, “It goes beyond the
secretary. It goes to the promise
the President made.” And has Obama
kept his promise to the American people?
I think it is problematic that the American people are not always fully
informed of all of the possible consequences of a bill like Obamacare. This may be problematic because then
does the public understand who they are electing as representatives of their
own district, and if so, do they understand and fully know the views of this
representative and how they would potentially vote on a bill like Obamacare?
This
is an often-reoccurring problem and/or theme that we see in our government
today. I’m not sure there is
always one person to solely point the finger at for a fault in a bill. I think we also have to reflect on
possibly who we are electing or appointing/trusting as leaders and representatives
to do what is best for us as the people.
I fear that even-as Lance reflected on-the President and Sebelius didn’t
fully understand all of the elements behind Obamacare when it was passed. There were many elements to the bill
that were complicated and would be able to be understood only by the
policy-makers who knew the system.
If Sebelius, Obama and other Members of Congress were not properly and
fully briefed they would not fully understand the consequences of the law they
were passing. This may be an issue
that should be addressed in the future.
Sources:
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