A better jobs act would be "Healthcare that's actually affordable for someone starting out"
People would leave their deadend jobs in droves and start new companies if they didn't have to risk their health and that of their families by doing so.
As someone who has chronic back problems, I cannot agree with this more. I've wanted to start a company for some time, but my increased risk for significant medical care/procedures has somewhat anchored me to working for others.
Don't particularly agree with this line of reasoning on two grounds:
(i) Greater access to capital means that more startups should be able to include health coverage in their pay packages.
(ii) The Affordable Care Act implemented plans in every state that cover pre-existing conditions until all plans will be required to do so in 2014[1].
P.S. Having dealt with chronic low back pain for the past decade, I can definitely relate... on the plus side, I recently found a traction device that has all but eliminated my issues. Feel free to reach out if you think it might help and I'll send details.
P.P.S. Regarding the OP's petition, while it's clearly helpful to show public support, this seems a bit too rigid: "We ask the Senate to act swiftly, without amendments that may weaken key provisions".
Amending the legislation would potentially help to address the opposition to this bill (at the very least, the petition should recognize the detractors point-of-view to demonstrate that signers are aware and have voiced their support regardless)[2].
<pedantic>
Down voted for using for using the pejorative 'Obamacare'. The thing actually has a real name (and it doesn't even make some bad acronym), it is the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act".
</pedantic>
Odd. I know plenty of liberals/Democrats/etc who call it Obamacare. They don't mean anything negative by it. It's a hell of a lot shorter than call it the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act".
Perhaps I am just sensitive to being fairly liberal in a pretty conservative area. The vast majority (read: all, until now apparently) of the times I hear the term, it's definitely used negatively. I understand the formal name is a bit cumbersome, but it's accurate and a lot less ambiguous. Of those I know who don't use 'Obamacare' or the actual name, using the simple healthcare reform act seems to work well.
My apologies for turning this into a political argument. My intention was to try to check some perceived bias. Looks like I over-corrected.
> People would leave their deadend jobs in droves and start new companies if they didn't have to risk their health and that of their families by doing so.
Having actually paid the relevant costs out of pocket, I disagree.
Yes, there are some people with chronic conditions who are "teathered" (but not all, as there are states where pre-existing conditions are not grounds for turning someone down and if you keep coverage, aren't even grounds for a waiting period), but they're a small minority. (And, if you have a chronic condition and don't keep coverage....)
I suspect that that the people actually willing to take the plunge are also the sort of people who actually look at what it will cost.
I'm guessing you're male. The number of females with medical histories (an important distinction from "pre existing condition! My daughter is perfectly healthy, but had a seizure [we think from a drug reaction] when she was four, and...) who are thus uninsurable on the private market is not small.
Our current health care system is not a problem for single twenty-something males; that is a win condition in the same sense as a memory allocator that never fragments memory as long as nothing ever calls free().
> The number of females with medical histories (an important distinction from "pre existing condition! My daughter is perfectly healthy, but had a seizure [we think from a drug reaction] when she was four, and...) who are thus uninsurable on the private market is not small.
If she's had continuous insurance, she's not uninsurable.
As I wrote, in many states, insured people can't be turned down when they want to switch.
People would leave their deadend jobs in droves and start new companies if they didn't have to risk their health and that of their families by doing so.