Mr. Obama's Speech on Health Care Reform and People with Disabilities

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Mr. Obama's Speech on Health Care Reform and People with Disabilities
By Thomas C. Weiss

Wednesday evening, Mr. Obama made some highly-relevant points that deserve some credit. He stated some things that I agree with whole-heartedly; they are very relevant where People with Disabilities are concerned. Mr. Obama suggested that controlling the Health Insurance Industry would be a wise move to make...

Obama Image Wednesday evening, Mr. Obama made some highly-relevant points that deserve some credit. He stated some things that I agree with whole-heartedly; they are very relevant where People with Disabilities are concerned. Mr. Obama suggested that controlling the Health Insurance Industry would be a wise move to make. He stated that making health insurance companies compete with each other for the business of people in America is needed, and I agree. Mr. Obama stated that we need to hold these insurance companies accountable, and make them pay for basic exams and other basic services while making it illegal for them to deny coverage to people based on a pre-existing condition; I couldn’t agree more.

What all of these changes to the Health Care Insurance industry would mean, of course, is that we would not need the public option that he has also suggested. To me, by suggesting a public option, Mr. Obama is attempting to transfer the obligations of the Medicare and Medicaid programs into a new, Government-run program instead of cleaning up government programs that already exist. The United States Government already has programs that can serve people with disabilities and others who would still remain unable to purchase insurance after opening competition among health insurance companies after reforming these same companies – there is no need for a public option or yet another government-run health care program.

There are approximately sixty-million people with disabilities in America, many of whom use Medicare and Medicaid. The Community Choice Act, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Plus, as well as other programs simply must be supported by the United States Government. We must be given the choice to live in our own homes and communities instead of being forced to live in institutions such as nursing homes. We are American Citizens, we have rights.

As People with Disabilities and Disabled Veterans, we cannot accept Mr. Obama’s plan to use the Government as a tool to disassemble both Medicare and Medicaid, we rely on them too heavily. Mr. Obama’s plans would take $500 Billion dollars from the Medicare program in order to accomplish its goals. There is also the fact that if the United States Government and the Obama Administration are unable to work with government programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, there is no reason at all for us as people with disabilities to believe that the government or this administration would do any better with another government program.

There is an immense lack of adequate communication going on in this nation, one that will continue to create vast divisions among not only the leaders in this nation, but American Citizens as well if it perpetuates. Both sides of the political divide in this nation are using scare tactics in order to manipulate American Citizens; it is a horrid thing to witness. It is apparently, ‘Open-Season,’ on the Citizens of this nation, and I am ashamed of every single leader in America right now – every one of them, to include Mr. Obama. This is no way to run America.

It does not matter whether the leader represents the Republican Party or the Democrat Party, they have all been scaring the daylights out of people. They have all been refusing to accept input from individual American Citizens in this nation. They have all been using scare tactics and name-calling. I find this to be absolutely deplorable. All of these leaders, right up to Mr. Obama himself, are so wrapped up in their own agendas that they have lost any sense of respect for individual American Citizens, leading to events such as the arrests of ADAPT members out front of the White House itself, and the disasters that were the Town Hall meetings this summer. Mr. Obama – our doors are open as well.

In his speech last night, Mr. Obama gave preference to an estimated thirty-million people in America who are supposedly uninsured while ignoring one-fifth of this nation; People with Disabilities. He addressed Seniors in relation to Medicare, yet did not acknowledge that there are sixty-million People with Disabilities in this nation, many of whom are on Medicare too. Mr. Obama did not mention the Community Choice Act in reference to health care reform either; not that I expected it. If this administration is looking to cut costs related to health care, the Community Choice Act would be a very good way to do so.

How many of the points laid out by the CCD in relation to health care that I mentioned in my article yesterday titled, ‘Health Care Reform, The Community Choice Act, and People with Disabilities,’ did President Obama provide a hint of resolution to? In my opinion – several. I will leave you to read through and decide for yourself. There is something that is very troubling on my mind though, it involves the question of participation.

People with Disabilities have consistently been marginalized by this nation, and the Obama Administration is taking what could be considered an, ‘Equal Opportunity Approach,’ to this as well. Instead of excluding us, People with Disabilities, as a group – the Obama administration is excluding every American Citizen seemingly. I find no other explanation for the outrage being expressed by members of both the left and the right sides of the political realm among the citizens in this nation.

Universal Health Care coverage is essential to removing the numbers of People with Disabilities in America from the poverty they experience, as is Employment. The focus from the Obama administration is currently on health care, but one of the first things Mr. Obama said last night was that he would not stop until *everyone* in America who is looking for work finds work. I intend to hold him personally responsible for that statement. I also have a feeling that Mr. Obama will not be stopping any time soon; people with disabilities are experiencing one of the most difficult employment situations we have ever known right now due to the economy.

Health care is a very good place to start, there is no denying it. Regulation of the Health Care Insurance Industry that has endlessly denied people with disabilities coverage due to pre-existing conditions is equally wise. A Public Option is unnecessary; we need to work with Medicare, Medicaid and the Veterans Administration programs that we already have in place, as well as the Community Choice Act. Before any of this can happen, and a final Health Care Reform law comes into place – the bickering, name-calling, and ignoring of American Citizens, to include the People with Disabilities who represent one-fifth of this nation, must end.

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