Doug Mills/The New York Times
via www.nytimes.com
Those of my readers who have been with me over the past year know how important I feel this bill is. It's not complete - I think that as long as any citizen is not covered by affordable health insurance something will be missing.
But for people with Crohn's as well as everyone with every other kind of condition and disease, the banishment of the prexisting condition clause in health insurance plans is a very important element of having security in our lives. The fear of having to lose coverage and become destitute with medical bills is a real one when you have a disease where a flare that causes a one week hospitalization can run in the tens of thousands of dollars.
My own mother in law does not have coverage but by the time the new plans are available to her she will finally be eligible for Medicare. My Mom and Dad get hit hard by the Medicate "Donut Hole" every hear and they will be very glad for the measures of the bill that start to close that gap.
Obama has a less that 50% approval rate right now, and even though I am a big supporter of his, I too have some feeling of disappointment in some of what he has done (and not done) since being elected. Now is his chance to get on with it. Finish the work that needs to be done regarding job creation and spurring American companies towards innovation.
And may the two parties so bitterly divided please be able to work together to get our economy, medical and otherwise, going strong again.