Universal Health Care

So it appears Universal Health Care will be provided to 32 million Americans who are currently without coverage, all thanks to the Health Care bill signed by Congress this past weekend. It's not often that I comment on controversial subjects such as this, but I felt the urge to dive into this topic a little bit. While I think it's important that everyone in the United States should receive health care benefits, I just don't know if this bill is right at this time. Don't get me wrong, I applaud the Democrats' willingness to get this done. I think it's a long time coming. However, I think it was put together too quickly and it's not perfect. I cannot go into great details about the bill because I just don't know enough about it. But from what I have heard, and the majority of Americans having doubt about the Health Care bill, I just don't get a satisfied feeling about it.

One of the key advocates of this particular Health Care bill is House Representative Bart Stupak. We're very familiar with him in Northern Michigan because he represents our district. He's been a long-time representative and up until last year, has been little-known outside of our district. But he was the individual to include the amendment about abortions not being funded by the Health Care bill. Up until the vote on the Health Care bill, he was adamantly against supporting the bill if it included abortions being funded via Universal Health Care coverage. But, he ended up supporting the bill anyways at the last minute, after being promised an executive order from President Obama that the "abortion amendment" would yet be addressed again at a later date. You know, I am glad that Stupak stuck to his guns right until the last minute. But in a sense I feel he gave in and it remains to be seen if that executive order will come up for Stupak and his fellow pro-life members of Congress. I'd certainly hate to see him end up with egg all over his face regarding such a monumental bill.

Obviously the health care fight in Congress and across the United States isn't over quite yet. From the sounds of it there are a few things that still need ironing out (particularly the abortion issue). Exactly when will it get enacted? Will it cause the National Debt to increase even more than it already has? Also another big issue is what will this do to the Democrats come this November? There are a lot of races to be contested in the fall - will this and President Obama's performance take a toll on the Democrats? A lot of questions need to get answered before the end of the year. This is clearly a hot topic issue and will probably remain that way for years to come. Was this right at this time - especially when our country is still struggling economically? I certainly think it's a good thing that people who were without health care coverage can now have an affordable option for coverage. But at what cost will it come? That remains to be seen in the days, months, and years ahead.