I have two relatives who have spent the better part of the last two years without health care. Both are over the age of 50, have worked hard their entire life, and are single. The first has had serious trouble getting health insurance because of pre-existing conditions. The second can’t afford it because she’s been in and out of work so often and health care is so tied to employment based coverage.
I’ve been tracking this health care reform bill, but really only in an “inside baseball” kind of way - “will it pass” or “won’t it.” The actual particulars of the bill largely escape me, except to know that it is most obviously not socialized medicine, and that it also is nowhere near the bill Obama and many dems wanted when they started.
It looks like for one of my relatives her world has changed, she will now be able to get health care without the same difficulties she had just a few weeks ago. That is real, substantive change in millions of people’s lives for the better. For the other relative, there is still more to do.
