Ten Immediate Benefits of the Health Reform Bill.

It's far from perfect (and the Republicans are already vowing to repeal many of these benefits) and will have to be tweaked as time goes by, but it's a real beginning. From C & L:

Here are ten benefits which come online within six months of the President's signature on the health care bill:

1. Adult children may remain as dependents on their parents’ policy until their 27th birthday
2. Children under age 19 may not be excluded for pre-existing conditions
3. No more lifetime or annual caps on coverage
4. Free preventative care for all
5. Adults with pre-existing conditions may buy into a national high-risk pool until the exchanges come online. While these will not be cheap, they’re still better than total exclusion and get some benefit from a wider pool of insureds.
6. Small businesses will be entitled to a tax credit for 2009 and 2010, which could be as much as 50% of what they pay for employees’ health insurance.
7. The “donut hole” closes for Medicare patients, making prescription medications more affordable for seniors.
8. Requirement that all insurers must post their balance sheets on the Internet and fully disclose administrative costs, executive compensation packages, and benefit payments.
9. Authorizes early funding of community health centers in all 50 states (Bernie Sanders’ amendment). Community health centers provide primary, dental and vision services to people in the community, based on a sliding scale for payment according to ability to pay.
10. AND no more rescissions. Effective immediately, you can't lose your insurance because you get sick.

I'm sure the GOP (the party of NO!) will continue to make fools of themselves in their feeble attempts to scare people, but I hope we're smarter than they think we are.  I doubt I'll benefit from much of this, but so many millions of Americans will, and that's a good thing.

Finally, some much needed change has come to this country.

And so it goes.
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