The two sentence bill, and I’ll have a Big Mac

What can be accomplished in this world in two sentences?  Most people would agree that very little can be done.  You can’t even place an order at McDonalds without using more than two sentences.  However, the Congressional Republicans have tried to repeal the health-care law in a two-sentence bill on January 26^th 2011.  The repeal passed 245-189 — with only three Democrats voting in favor of it. But the Senate, still controlled by Democrats, will not allow it to pass into law.

The two sentence bill, if it ever became law, would do the following:

1. Add 230 billion to the deficit by 2021 according the Congressional Budget Office.
2. Reduce the number of Americans with health insurance by an estimated 32 million.
3. Allow for health insurers to deny coverage for those individuals who have pre-existing conditions.
4. Deny parents from keeping their children’s coverage up to the age of 26.

By using fewer words than ordering a Big Mac and fries House Republicans are trying to do away with a two-year debate in which both parties invested lots of emotional capital–capital that most Americans, according to the latest poles, do not want spend anymore.  Most Americans want to move forward and end the debate.

The real issue for most Americans is how we can honestly reduce costs while protecting patients’ rights.  These right now include banning health plans from rescinding coverage, eliminating annual coverage limits and lifetime limits, and preventing plans from turning down children with pre-existing conditions.

Moreover, a report released by the US Public Interest Research Group, earlier this month, states that “repeal would strip tax credits from over four million small businesses” and drive up the costs of the individual market by 20% by 2016, leaving 57 million American’s with pre-existing conditions to face coverage denials and price discriminations.  The report estimates that by the end of the decade nearly 4.5 million jobs could be lost due to rising employer health care costs.

No one can really predict what will happen over the next decade in the health care industry.  To repeal the new health-care law after all of the debate that went on in this country isn’t right.  Rather, it seems more advantageous for us to build upon the new law and refine it wherever necessary.  No law is perfect.  So, let’s not dismiss it with a two-sentence bill that requires as little thought as ordering a Happy Meal.