Is health care reform actually happening?

I have felt for a very long time that a major obstacle for economic growth in the United States was the health care situation.  For as many small business that are started up, how many more great ideas are shelved because of the economic barriers to entrepreneurship? Arguably, one of those largest barriers is health insurance.  And, it’s not just a barrier for the person starting the business… but when you start a business, sometimes you need to hire people, and you want to hire the best people.  How many of those best people will be willing to work without health insurance?

The passage of bill H.R. 3962 by the House of Representatives is a very good step forward.  It provides for protection against denial of coverage for preexisting conditions, a government-run insurance plan (also known commonly as “the public option”), requires most (read: larger) employers to provide insurance, and provides for an insurance exchange, among other things.

I talked in my last post about feeling trapped by the safety of a situation; health insurance is a big way to feel trapped.  It’s scary to take a risk and try to chart your own course when you have to worry about the well-being of your family, and the potential financial catastrophe a chronic health problem could cause if it cropped up when you’re in between insurance coverages.  I spoke last time about feeling trapped… but for all too many people, health insurance is an issue that actually does have them trapped.  They or a family member is in a health situation where they simply can’t be without insurance, or they’d have a very hard time regaining coverage after a lapse, no matter how brief.  Or, for many (and appropriately so, in my opinion), they simply don’t want to take that gamble of going without insurance.

If this bill can pass muster in the Senate and it (or a similar version) passes and heads to the White House for a signature, it will represent a huge transformation in how the little guy can do business in the U.S.  It will give people the power and freedom to greater life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  It will free people to pursue their dreams of owning their own business, of working for themselves.  No matter your political affiliation, you have to appreciate the doors that this reform can open for so many people.  It’s a good reform, it’s a moral reform, but most importantly it’s an enormously important economic reform.  And if you’re one of those folks that are figuratively or literally trapped in a job you hate because you simply can’t walk away from the health coverage, and that business plan is getting dusty, you must be chomping at the bit to see where this goes.

I’m curious of our readers – reaching beyond your political affiliation, and more from your entrepreneurial spirit – how do you feel about health care reform?  Do you find the potential benefits and steps forward that this legislation promises outweigh the possible costs?  Are you in a situation where you need the benefits that this bill offers?  I’d love to hear from you.