The Final State of the Union
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Summary:
In the video below, responding to Vice President Biden's call for submissions on why reform is important, Jake and Jess make their case.
Sometimes it's easy to assume that health reform is only important to people who are in immediate need of care, those who have existing medical conditions, or those who are unemployed - and indeed, even those who are satisfied with their insurance often don't know the shortcomings of what they have until that need hits. But one of the reasons health care has been such a high priority for the American people for decades is that there's an anxiety that looms over it. What if my premiums or co-pays continue to rise forever while my pay stays more or less the same? What if I can't renew my insurance for some reason? What if I lose my job, or just want to change jobs?
In the video below, responding to Vice President Biden's call for submissions on why reform is important, Jake and Jess make their case. As a young couple, they'd like to start planning a family, and although Jess has employer-provided health insurance, they watch as so many others around them are losing insurance and worry what would happen if for some reason they lost coverage during the duration of Jess' pregnancy for all the necessary prenatal procedures.
"We want health care reform not so we can be irresponsible, not so some one else will pick up the tab, but so we don't have to live with the fear of losing coverage when it would be most important," says Jess. The peace of mind Jess and Jake are searching for is what the core principles of President Obama’s Heatlh Insurance Consumer Protections are all about. As the President said in his June press conference:
This is not just about the 47 million Americans who have no health insurance. Reform is about every American who has ever feared that they may lose their coverage if they become too sick, or lose their job, or change their job. It’s about every small business that has been forced to lay off employees or cut back on their coverage because it became too expensive.
Health insurance reform will restore confidence in the health care system, provide a stable, reliable system of coverage, and ultimately help families like Jess and Jake plan for a healthy, happy future.
