Throwing Out The Lifeline

      As the nine Supreme Court  Justices congregate, to decide on the constitutionality of the Health Care Law, Maryland’s health secretary Dr. Joshua  Sharfstein said he is worried about the 50,000 people nationwide who are enrolled  in a federally financed insurance program because they are seriously ill and cannot find coverage otherwise. Sharfstein is not the only one worried.  Mary Johnson, a 25 year old student who is on her  parents  insurance is also concerned. Paul Brown a preexisting diabetic patient is especially despondent; he sees the Health Care Law as a lifeline for his medication and his much needed treatment which now comes at a lower cost. “What will happen to me? I will surely die”, he groaned painfully.

   While the Law will not go into full effect until 2014, more than 30 new provisions of the law are already in place including young adults on parents’ insurance, people with preexisting illnesses on insurance ,and seniors on cheap prescription. However, according to the polls, the Law is not popular, with more than 50% indicating that the Bill be thrown out, because the mandate used in the Affordable Care Act that says that all Americans have health insurance or pay a penalty.

   Let me ask you ; if indeed the Health Care Law is unconstitutional, Do you think, Paul Brown living with diabetes, going to dialysis three times a week, will  worry about the constitutionality of the Law? Do you think that the parents of a young child with leukemia worry about the constitutionality of the Health Care Law? Do you think that the unemployed new graduate with loans, living with her parents, is worry about the constitutionality of the Law? Tell me .What do you think? Keep in mind that millions of Americans have already begun to benefit from the Law. According to YNN “Federal health officials estimate 54 million people nationwide including more than 3 million New Yorkers are now getting those services with no additional cost because of that provision.” What is important to remember, is that these people will be sick anyhow. And when they get sick, they will go to the emergency room which will hike up the price of all insurers. Those with insurance will pay the high price of those without insurance. Regardless of the situation, there will still be a high price to pay.

   Ironic enough, it is the same doctors, agencies and insurers who voted against the Bill, who are now struggling with the thought of the Law being over thrown. “Many of us did not get the bill we wanted, but I think having to start over is worse than having to fix this,” said Robert Laszewski, a health care industry consultant and former insurance executive who opposed the Bill. “The part I struggle with is how you undo two years worth of implementation,” said Dr. Glen R. Stream, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. “It would leave tremendous uncertainty about what is the direction we’re going in and that uncertainty would obviously affect the patients directly.”

   That uncertainty has definitely unsettled patients like Paul Brown and  Mary Johnson. Meanwhile the nine Supreme Court  Justices congregate, to decide on the constitutionality of the Health Care Law, that major players who oppose that Law, now say that it saves money by keeping patients out of the hospital and emergency room.