HEALTH CARE BRIEFS ON THE NEW LAW: A FOUNDATION ON WHICH TO BUILD
by Frank Samuelson
A Foundation on which to Build. The new Health Care Affordability Act is not perfect, but it is a foundation on which to build a more complete reform. For instance in the heat of the August 2009 congressional health care debate a rational provision to include and pay for consultations by patients and families with their doctors about treatment options and widely recommended “advance directives” for end of life care were included in the plan. Those opposed to reform promptly labeled such consultations as “death panels” even though they left the decisions up to the patients and families. In the furor and misstatements, the provision was dropped. With the new law in place we can now work to restore this provision and make other improvements (and corrections) based on experience, not partisan debate.
–from Faithful Reform in Health Care
These brief summaries of benefits in the new health care law were prepared by Progressive Action for the Common Good (PACG) of the Quad Cities, based on research by Faithful Reform in Health Care
which represents many churches and other faith communities. (See the
list of members on their website.) Faithful Reform seeks to speak the
“whole truth” about health care issues instead of the many half truths
that abound. If you, or someone you know, has had a personal experience
with this or another benefit of the new law, please share it with the
Health Care Reform Forum of PACG (karencadfael@aol.com).
Frank Samuelson is a retired pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He is a member of the Health Care Reform Forum of PACG and has been active in the Anti-racism ministry of the Northern Illinois Synod of the ELCA.
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