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| The justices who wouldn't hear the arguments about whether larger companies should offer health insurance will still consider whether views about abortion should be an issue. Photograph by Supreme Court of the United States |
The
nation’s high court, of course, upheld the basic concept of the Affordable Care
Act – the measure that is meant to give people in this country access to health
insurance AND give Barack Obama a lasting presidential legacy.
TO
THE IDEOLOGUES who are particularly resentful that their constant, hostile
opposition to Obama wasn’t enough to defeat him in 2008 or 2012, the latter is
enough reason to oppose health care reform.
Although
I also realize there is a segment of the conservative element of our society
that really wants to believe it’s not “their” problem that some people can’t
get medical coverage.
No
matter how much the cost of dealing with such people when they become ill hits
us as a society as a whole (somebody has to cover the cost of those “emergency
room” visits for minor medical matters), they’d rather ignore it.
They
seem to follow the same line of logic they follow with any form of public
assistance – it is money wasted on people who are undeserving.
THE
CALLOUSNESS OF such thought is why I have been a backer of health care reform
measures. Somebody has to address the problem, and even if one wants to argue
that Obama’s attempts aren’t thorough enough, it is more of a solution than
what the opposition has offered up.
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| OBAMA: Benefits society & his legacy |
It
is because of that thought that I was pleased to learn of the fact that the
Supreme Court decided Monday to do nothing! Specifically with request to the
lawsuit that Liberty University in Virginia that wants to knock down the
Affordable Care Act on the grounds that it requires companies with 50 or more
employees to provide basic insurance.
Liberty
wanted the Supreme Court to take on this portion of the case immediately –
without requiring it to go through lower-level appeals courts. The high court
chose not to.
Part
of why I’m pleased is that the reality of our society these days is that many
companies want to view the benefit of a health insurance policy for their
workers as some sort of undue hardship on themselves.
YES,
THEY PROBABLY could have a better financial bottom line if they didn’t have to
deal with the issue. Although from the worker’s perspective, the major selling
point of a full-time job often is the health insurance benefits one can
receive.
Because
without it, one serious illness can be devastating financially. A hospital stay
of as little as a single weekend can easily run up a $10,000 tab. How many people
really have enough money stashed around that they could cover such an expense –
if they were hit with it suddenly?
So
seeing that the court isn’t about to mess with the idea that people are working
for an insurance benefit just as much as a salary is a good thing. Anything
else would have me wondering how deeply the high court was in bed with ideologue
interests.
Perhaps
we can now start moving forward on this issue – particularly since the claims
are now that the problems that existed for people interested in signing up for
insurance benefits through Affordable Care Act provisions have been worked out.
I’M
SURE THE ideologues will want to forevermore believe the flaws exist and will
want to tell scare stories in hopes that people don’t sign up.
But
this has become a case where we ought to ignore the ideologues – perhaps give
them a great big “Shut Up!” from the true masses of our society.
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| This can't be our health care for the poor! |
Besides,
the ideologues are still fighting it out over health care reform. They object
to the idea that insurance benefits obtained through the program would include
coverage for contraceptives – even from companies operated by people who want
to impose their own religious thoughts on abortion onto everyone else!
The
courts, which have been sympathetic to that line of logic in the past, is
scheduled to consider the issue come spring. This fight ain’t over yet!
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