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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums‘It isn’t a Democrat or Republican issue’
Posted with permission.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/it-isnt-democrat-or-republican-issue#break
It isnt a Democrat or Republican issue
02/14/14 02:30 PMUpdated 02/14/14 02:34 PM
By Steve Benen
The longer the Affordable Care Act exists, the more Americans there will be who are thankful that it does.
The University of South Floridas news outlet ran a piece this week, for example, quoting a number of local Republicans whove embraced the law. I did not vote for Obama, Irene Jacusis said. But I am so in love with this plan. Jacusis said she knows her party is committed to destroying the health care law she loves, but she doesnt think Republicans will actually repeal the ACA because there are too many people out there who need this and require it.
The same report quoted another local woman named Mary Fallon who, after learning her monthly premiums would drop from $768 to $150, cried with joy: I just held my hands up in the air. Thank you, god. Finally, some relief. I couldnt do it anymore. She intends to spend the extra money in her pocked to restart the economic engine.
Another local woman, Peggy Arvanitas, literally takes it upon herself to drive Republican voters to the polls on Election Day, but now that shes paying just $10 a month for coverage, shes decided she loves the Affordable Care Act. It isnt a Democrat or Republican issue, she said. Its a health care issue.
And then theres the dramatic story of Mike ODell, whos alive today in part because of Obamacare.
The Fox affiliate in Kansas City ran this report on ODell, who recently received a new heart, saving his life.
While we could have done the transplant even without charging him, the medication he would never be able to afford, said Dr. Andrew Kao, his heart specialist. Anti-rejection medicine costs $4,000 a month and must be taken daily to keep the new heart. [ ]
He couldnt get private health insurance because of his pre-existing heart condition. But as of January 1, with the health care law, insurers can no longer deny coverage. ODell and his wife were able to get coverage through the health insurance marketplace for $190 a month. That allowed him to go on the transplant waiting list.
The report quoted the mans wife saying, He wouldnt be here with me or my children if it werent for the Obamacare.
To be sure, anecdotes arent data. Reports that highlight satisfied customers are nice, and may give ACA backers a morale boost, but theyre probably not going to persuade detractors to stop attacking the law or calling for its repeal.
That said, I do believe theres a cumulative effect when these folks and others, many of whom were skeptical of Obamacare, suddenly discover they like the law after all.
What the ACA needs is more time to reach people like Mike ODell or the Floridians featured above. These folks have embraced the benefits; their friends and family hear about their experiences; then the public at large learns about these successes from news outlets willing to cover them.
Opponents of the law scrambled furiously to stop the ACA before open enrollment, not because they feared Americans would be let down by the law, but for the opposite reason they feared consumers would actually like the law, making it impossible to repeal, and making President Obama the champion who brought health security to millions of families.
Slowly but surely, the success stories are adding up.
tanyev
(42,601 posts)for, and driving others to the polls to vote for, absolutely made it one. Think long and hard about that before the next election.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)did and they've tried to repeal it so many times even Boehner lost count. And so Peggy Republican it's high time to say 'Thank you Democrats'.
FSogol
(45,524 posts)Cha
(297,528 posts)embrace choosing a chance for a healthy life over not being able to get the proper medical attention.
thanks babylonsistah~
sheshe2
(83,860 posts)Skittles
(153,182 posts)lots of people hold off on joining something the first year