US passage of health care bill stirs mixed reactions
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Americans harbor mixed feelings about Sunday's sweeping health care reforms, with many voicing opposition to the landmark legislation and a nearly equal number expressing approval.
After a year of political wrangling as Congressional Democrats struggled to secure the votes necessary to pass the health care reform, a bill passed late Sunday night by a slim majority of 219 to 212.
The controversial new law, which lawmakers said will extend health insurance benefits to more than 30 million uninsured Americans, will soon arrive at the White House for the president's signature.
The legislation encompasses a number of reforms to the nation's health care system, which comprises one-sixth of the U.S. economy. Provisions include forbidding insurance companies from dropping sick policy holders and denying coverage to those with pre- existing conditions. Most Americans will also be forced to carry health insurance, those who can not afford it will receive tax breaks and young people will be able to remain on parents' plans until age 26.
But opinion over the controversial legislation varies.
Sharon Ammons, an African American who hands out newspapers in Northern Virginia, near Washington, D.C., said of the bill's passage: "It's about time. It's going to help a lot of people."
Ammons is uninsured and must head to a hospital emergency room in the event of illness, where she waits for long periods of time to see a doctor. "Sometimes half a day," she said. Other times, she simply goes with no medical treatment at all.
In the United States, emergency rooms are required to stabilize patients during emergencies or illness, as Ammons has experienced. But the uninsured have tremendous difficulty finding treatment for chronic diseases such as cancer and some have died for lack of access to treatment.
Amine Ebron, also an African American, who works in the food service industry, said healthcare reform would help people in her community, although she personally knows few uninsured African Americans.
But some Americans fret the legislation will drive up the skyrocketing federal deficit and leave taxpayers to foot the bill at a time when the economy is clawing its way out of the deepest recession since the 1930s.
Some others dismiss those fears.
Pam Betterton, a Caucasian American, said she is in favor of the bill's passage and unconcerned about tax increases to pay for it.
"It's part of being a citizen," she said of the passage of the legislation to insure more Americans.
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