Tidings of Comfort

[iandhr]

Source: NY TIMES

PAUL KRUGMAN

Indulge me while I tell you a story — a near-future version of Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol.” It begins with sad news: young Timothy Cratchit, a k a Tiny Tim, is sick. And his treatment will cost far more than his parents can pay out of pocket.



Fortunately, our story is set in 2014, and the Cratchits have health insurance. Not from their employer: Ebenezer Scrooge doesn’t do employee benefits. And just a few years earlier they wouldn’t have been able to buy insurance on their own because Tiny Tim has a pre-existing condition, and, anyway, the premiums would have been out of their reach.

But reform legislation enacted in 2010 banned insurance discrimination on the basis of medical history and also created a system of subsidies to help families pay for coverage. Even so, insurance doesn’t come cheap — but the Cratchits do have it, and they’re grateful. God bless us, everyone.

O.K., that was fiction, but there will be millions of real stories like that in the years to come. Imperfect as it is, the legislation that passed the Senate on Thursday and will probably, in a slightly modified version, soon become law will make America a much better country.

So why are so many people complaining? There are three main groups of critics.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/25/opinion/25krugman.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

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I know you guys like Kurgman

listen to what he has to say. This bill will be a positive change for those who do not have insurance.

[Bicoastal]

1. Psst--not a LBN story.

Delete and post in GD where it belongs.

[Skittles]

2. question

starts with, "....And his treatment will cost far more than his parents can pay out of pocket."

what, exactly, in this bill CHANGES that???

[iandhr]

4. The subsidies

that cover people earning up 300% of the federal poverty level. I assume Tiny Tims family fall into this category

[Skittles]

5. the subsidies pay the premiums, for the corporate bastards' benefit

[ShortnFiery]

3. B.S.

Eat Me Krugman!

[Demeter]

6. Fiction is Fiction, No Matter What Period It's Set In

I'd rather have steak than sizzle. And so would the Cratchits.