March 31, 2014 is the final day to sign up for the Affordable Care Act without penalty. Blacks and young folks are lagging in enrollment, despite their higher than average online presence. One of the board operators at the radio station where I host part time told me it took three hours to sign up for a subsidized plan covering the basics that will cost her ZERO! My premium went up a bit under the new plan. But I don’t care. I am glad about it. For once, I get to buy something I want with my tax dollars – health care – instead of more clogged asphalt or another F-15. Don’t wait – participate. Visit www.whitehouse.gov today.
If I had my way, the US would adopt a single-payer health care plan like most Europeans and Canadians have. It would work like Medicare, or the VA. If you are sick, you go to a health provider and get treated. You pay your share…taxes takes care of the rest. If you want special services, you pay out-of-pocket. No stress. No mess. But that is not what Democracy looks like – at least not the US version.
To get ObamaCare, the President had to negotiate his way through for-profit insurers, T-Partiers, Republicans, big city doctors and small town hospitals. Not to mention SCOTUS. All these special interests had to be taken care of, less they render the Affordable Care Act “Dead on Arrival.” Does anyone remember Hillary Clinton’s 1993 effort to reduce the number of uninsured Americans?
Even if you don’t want health care, or think you don’t need it, sign up today at www.healthcare.gov. Show President Obama that all the effort was not wasted. When history writes the news, President Obama will get headlines for caring.
–Janice L. Mathis, Esq., The Rainbow PUSH Coalition
