Reforms missing mark
By Pearl Wong
Despite promises of a more transparent government, the Senate passed a rushed and hushed-up 400 page health care bill written behind closed doors on Christmas Eve. In a vote of 60 Democrats against all 39 Republicans, one must wonder: what happened to bipartisanship? Unfortunately for the Democrats and two Independents, the Senate's health care bill turns out to be only slightly more promising than the House version.
A key difference between the two bills is that, thankfully, no public option is included in the Senate version. Although a national policy is the most efficient way to improve health care, America is not ready for a new batch of government bureaucracies. We ought to rejoice because, despite Obama's positive outlook, the government has proven how incapable it is of equability and efficiency in statewide provisions. Without a public option, Americans can look forward to future politics that do not involve reforming the public option in 2014 when the health care reform will be fully implemented.
From taxing and subsidizing, the Senate and the House believe they have patched up all the holes in their health care bills. However, the key item is not how individuals will pay for insurance premiums. The dark, empty abyss lies in the bills' lack of coverage on the pricing of surgeries, pills and other medical expenses. Just because you can now afford insurance premiums, does not mean you can afford the receipt for X-rays after your insurance company covers as little as one-third of it. With my insurance, even though I pay a premium of over $1000 per year, I still need to pay some portion of my medical bill out of pocket at the end of any visit to the hospital. The health care bill does not include anything on this slight oversight. Will my new insurance instead pay two-thirds to three-quarters of the bills now? Or will it still only pay the same amount, and leave me hanging and wondering how exactly was health care reformed? And, even if I was perfectly healthy, under the new reform I would also be required by law to foot the insurance premiums every year for the rest of my life or face up to $750 in penalty fees for not having insurance.
Don't take this the wrong way; universal health care is a beautiful dream. But the current health care reform package is not the bridge to this brand new world. Instead, after much bickering and sneaky political leverage to start the New Year, we will end up exactly where we started: with a bridge half built, the word Medicare crossed out and replaced with "Obamacare" decorated in gold glitter.
Apparently, America will not be making her dreams come true anytime soon. Sorry, Disney, but we tried. He tried, she tried and they tried; and since we were all vying for different goals, nothing good for American citizens got done.
Pearl Wong is a sophomore economics major.