Cool health care reform time line from AFL-CIO

[ProSense]

link

[madmax]

1. Great visual

still may be a bit hard for the teabaggers to 'get it'.

[DrToast]

2. They're busy looking for death panels on it.*

*

[NJmaverick]

3. K & R!

[Clio the Leo]

4. And SOME of the 9/23 provisions are already in effect...

... children covered until age 26 by most insurers.

[Vinca]

5. It's a shame about all the people who will die between now and 2014.

[ProSense]

7. Think ahead to 9/23/10 and imagine all the kids who will live. n/t

[dflprincess]

8. It's a shame there's not a date that tells us when we'll all be guraranteed access to care

not just "coverage".

Like people in civilized countries have.

[HughMoran]

9. Yes, whatever happened to the plan that covered everybody immediately?

You know, the Utopian plan that would simply print money during the worst recession since the Great Depression?

Do you know what happened to that plan?

[dflprincess]

12. You know - the plan that would have started expanding Medicare to more groups

Strange how every other developed country manages to provide their citizens access to health care but when it's suggested the U.S. do the same, the idea is slammed as being "utopian".

If the U.S. can afford to pay the private insurers billions in the form of subsidized premiums - it could afford to start expanding Medicare.

If Obama thinks we can afford to escalate in Afghanistan during the "worst recession since the Great Depression", there is no reason he shouldn't have thought we could afford health care - something that would have helped Americans during the "worst recession since the Great Depression".

[Vinca]

13. The citizens of the nation should be given first priority and I can't

think of anything more important than life or death issues. Money was shipped to Wall Street by the boat loads, but the uninsured are still lining up at Remote Area Medical events. I guess it's easy to dismiss those in need of medical care if you yourself have access to it.

[HughMoran]

14. Any estimate on the number who would have died if we descended into a worldwide depression?

Millions?

Billions?

[Vinca]

18. Any estimate on those who wouldn't have died if we hadn't continued

to funnel money by the billions into Iraq and Afghanistan? If we didn't have 100 military bases scattered all over the world? There's plenty of money available for social issues, but social issues don't generate profits for big business so it's easier to let people die of diseases that might not be terminal if you lived in Great Britain, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France and a host of other countries.

[HughMoran]

19. You'll get no argument from me about the milititary industrial complex

...and I admire your 'kitchen sink' approach - eventually something will stick.

BTW, people in those countries do pay for their coverage, albeit it's much more efficient than our system! I'm all for it; sadly - it'll be a long time coming here so we're going to have to deal with what we have and continue fighting for incremental changes as many of those countries did to get the system they have today.

[harun]

6. That is good but there must be a lot more items than that?

[HughMoran]

10. I'd give Joe Liebermann or Ben Nelson or Evan Bayh or Blanch Lincoln or Mary Landrieu a call

They might be able to fill you in...

[annabanana]

11. Oooo! Print, Copy and Post around Town!. . .n/t

[Cha]

15. This is a Great Start..I appreciate what we have

now and can build on. This will help our economic structure too.

[Jim Lane]

16. A question about pre-existing conditions....

The timeline gives "Coverage for pre-existing conditions" as soon as the bill is signed. Then in the "by 2014" category, there's "Total ban on pre-existing condition denials". Obviously, therefore, the immediate "coverage" isn't total. Would someone who's familiar with the bill explain what happens immediately in this respect? I have a suspicion that it has something to do with the high-risk pools, but I don't have a clear picture of whether those will offer genuinely affordable coverage, beginning immediately, to people with pre-existing conditions.

Thanks for any light anyone can shed!

[dflprincess]

17. Kids with preexisting conditions can't be denied insurance now

Whether or not they will be able to actually get care will depend on how much "coverage" the parent can afford.

The ban on denying adults with preexisting conditions insurance kicks in in a few years with no guarantee they'll actually be able to access care either.

[Jim Lane]

20. Thanks! That's helpful.

I agree with you that there are major unanswered questions about what kind of insurance coverage people will actually be able to obtain (considering premiums, co-pays, and deductibles), as well as the more important question about what kind of health care they'll actually receive.

[hughee99]

21. No mention of 2018 when the "cadillac plan" exemption ends? n/t