We all know that the White House and the Administration are going out of their way to promote health care reform, especially all the benefits for individuals and the things that help them “save money.” But I was amazed to see that health care reform and the PPACA is not one piece of legislation as we thought but rather several forms of health care reform aimed at every segment of American society, or at least that appears to be the view of the White House. On the White House website you will find the following information sheets designed to pander to the hot bottoms of each and every group of Americans. Interestingly each sheet promotes different things. For example, take a look at the first paragraph difference between the information sheet Health Reform for African Americans and Health Reform to Latinos. Is there any reason except purely political for there to be a different explanation of the same legislation for African Americans, Latinos (not sure why not Latino Americans) or Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders or LGBTs?
For the Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Transgender (LGBT) community (OK, it took me a while to figure that out) we start our saving money scenario with an explanation of the expansion of Medicaid including more coverage of HUV/Aids expenses. Apparently the Gay community is more interested in the early retiree reinsurance program because it is not even mentioned in the summary for Latinos or African Americans, but they all duly talk about ending insurance company “discrimination.”
You will find a generous sprinkling of such phrases as:
Insurance Industry Reforms that Save Money
Unfortunately, it is left to the imagination where all this money saved from limits on deductibles, co-payments, and elimination of annual limits on benefits will come from. The goal is purely to reinforce the “what’s in it for me?” mentality without regard to the consequences and that is a real shame. From the White House website:
Health Reform & Your Community – Fact Sheets
In addition to the interactive “What Health Reform Means for You Feature” above, those who want to distribute information in their communities off-line may find these downloadable and printable PDFs useful.
- Health Reform for American Families (pdf)
- Health Reform for Children (pdf)
- Health Reform for Young Adults (pdf)
- Health Reform for Early Retirees (pdf)
- Health Reform for Seniors (pdf)
- Health Reform for African Americans (pdf)
- Health Reform for Latinos (pdf)
- Health Reform for Rural Americans (pdf)
- Health Reform for Women (pdf)
- Health Reform for Small Businesses (pdf)
- Health Reform for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (pdf)
- Health Reform for Americans with Disabilities (pdf)
- Health Reform for LGBT Communities (pdf)
- Health Reform for Veterans (pdf)
- State by State Fact Sheets of Immediate Benefits
Each and every American can find something he or she likes about PPACA, every American will save money if they have a health care experience (except when it comes to their premiums), many Americans will have subsidized benefits (subsidize by other Americans) and there is the rub. We are all the beneficiaries of the grandest earmark in history and nobody is asking how we are going to pay for this now or more importantly in the years ahead. It will n0t be too long before this group or that seeks to expand one benefit or the other and our politicians will never say no, just witness the disappearance of the cut in physician fees under Medicare or the fact that groups are already pushing to have oral contraceptives covered at 100% as “preventive services.”
What’s that they are doing in the UK to keep the NHS afloat?
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
I think it’s pretty obvious that many Americans are much less concerned (or not concerned at all) about how health reform will benefit or hurt the country as a whole than with how it will impact them individually.
Again and again, the Administration has been criticized for not answering the question, “Sure … but what’s in it for me?” So when they address as many specific groups with answers that appear tailored to each of those groups, they’re simply covering all of their bases.”
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