Making the Case to Get America Insured
by John Stolz (Florida)
It was for a long time that I believed all we needed to do to get our
nation fully covered with health insurance was to pass a bill doing
so. No matter whether it was to be through a fully government
centered single payer system, a public health insurance company
or even what is in place today, what we call “The Exchanges” or
alternately know as the Federal Healthcare Marketplace.
That belief was wrong.
Or, at least, it was partially wrong. The truth is that passing a law
in this country and thinking the bill that gets passed always fully
does what it’s supposed to, is not, in fact, always the case. More
often than not, passing a law is instead only the first step to fixing
a problem, and in my opinion there is no better example of this rule
than when looking at Healthcare in America.
Almost 4 years from it’s signing, the Affordable Care Act has done
more to fix our struggling healthcare system then anytime in our
nation’s history. Through provisions in the Affordable Care Act,
such as expanding Medicaid to cover millions more working poor,
to uprooting the pillars of discrimination in purchasing coverage
and creating state and national exchanges, we’ve seen the progress.
We know the progress.
From the rural farmer in Kentucky who can now purchase
affordable health insurance through Kentucky’s Health Insurance
Exchange, to the mom in Georgia struggling to get her autistic
daughter covered or a family just plain trying to get more
affordable coverage. Everybody has somebody they know who has
been helped so far.
However, millions of American’s still aren’t feeling the proper
relief and reform that is in the Affordable Care Act. Unfortunately,
in our nation, we have a bureaucracy that can, when put under
partisan pressure slow and become stagnant to the change it was
supposed to shepherd in. Perpetuation of small snags, every step of
the way has also played it’s part in the slowing of progress.
Though, even with dogmatic opposition, the stats speak clear.
Since early 2013, the uninsured rate has fallen a steady 2.5
percent- from 18.3 percent to 16.1 percent. With each of those
percents representing thousands of real people now finding
themselves with the security and peace of having accessible,
affordable health insurance. In total, over 6 million more
Americans find themselves with health insurance today then they
did just 2 years ago.
Despite those promising numbers, we still can’t lose focus on this
issue. We have to move forward and continue with a collective
steady hand, even against dogmatic resistance and a stagnant
bureaucracy. Because unless the opponents to the Affordable
Care Act suddenly have an epiphany that changes their view of
healthcare not being a right for all, I think we can expect to be in
this race for the long haul.
So be sure you do your part and reach out to friends, family
members and your neighbors and let them know the facts and
benefits of health insurance reform. But most of all, let them know
you’re still making the case to get America insured and won’t stop
until every American is.
-John Stolz is the Chairman of the Florida High School Democrats. To get
involved with FLHSD, email jstolz@hsdems.org.
