Health care reform in America has begun! This Monday was the ultimate day after.  Exhausting for some. The day after history was made in Congress. The day after America watched a galvanized House of Representatives square off over what is good for the health of our nation. The House passage of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (HR 3590) made headlines in the every newspaper in the land. It was the word on the tip of every newscaster’s and pundit’s tongues. It was a day after a President stuck to a campaign promise and used all his might to turn what some thought was a pie-in-the-sky belief into action. All cameras and screens will focus on President Obama on Tuesday as he signs the bill into law.
 
And yet, much of America has no idea what was going on.  It seemed like a lot of bluster. We Americans are in some ways as galvanized as Congress. Hard-line republicans did not want to give an inch. Instead, they told Americans we are being faced with even bigger government than we have, socialism at its worst, taxes that will rise even more, Uncle Sam’s nose poking into our HIPAA papers. Tea Party revolutionaries in small towns and big cities decided anything the government said couldn’t be true.  It is the age of disbelief.
 
And yet for some of us, some faith in government was restored.
 
Reality checks needs to trickle into the everyday consciousness: what we are finally being offered are major safety nets that Americans should never have been left without–not in this modern age of science and medicine:

• No child with an illness, from asthma to cancer, should ever be at risk of no insurance because of a pre-existing condition. 
• No adult or family should be dropped from a policy because their health has declined or is at risk.
• No laid off worker should face not having any insurance at all or choose insurance over food.
• No small business should have to make a choice to keep its doors open or leave its employees at risk.

These sound like simple caveats. Instead they have kept us on the edge of our seats since last summer.  It was close to a year ago when the National Association of Children’s Hospitals launched an online drive for American families to tell their representatives what they thought of health care insurance and the need for reform.  They built the Speak Now for Kids website and Working Mother became their national media partner. Other partners March of Dimes and other important groups like The Children’s Defense Fund were onboard. They thought it would be the summer of reform. Instead, the seasons morphed into the winter of our discontent (paraphrasing Charles Dickens), and finally, on the first day of spring this year, we found renewal.  
 
I exchanged email Monday with Dawn, a mom I walked the halls of Congress in Washington with last June. We were there for advocacy days, representing families who have been cast unwittingly into the world of children’s hospitals.  She and I, and hundreds of others, met with members of Congress and Congressional staffers explaining how health care insurance and children’s hospitals mean the difference for children with life-threatening illness. I wrote about Dawn then, as a working mother who needed to be with her daughter who suffered a traumatic brain event, but continued to work because she was the parent whose job carried the benefits. Then, with cutbacks in the financial industry, her job moved out of state (they live in Virginia) and so did the family insurance. Now with one less salary, they were forced to pay the high price of COBRA and an even higher premium for continuance of care for as long as it lasted, and hoped they would be able to buy insurance without being affected by a pre-existing condition. What a burden! All the while, Dawn helped her daughter obtain much-needed therapy, special ed programs and worked closely with her to help her be the remarkable teenager she is today. Her simple response this day after: “Hope this bill is the start of a brand new day!!!”
 
Our Kids’ Health Mom Blogger, Aimee Ossman has been busy blogging for her day job as a policy expert at NACH. She wrote this going into the weekend:
 
“I am happy to say that the House package has many positive provisions for children. The bill prohibits insurers from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions; extends the authority and funding of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and provides a $30 million loan forgiveness program for pediatric specialists.” (Meaning helps doctors in pediatric specialties like cardiology and cancer pay back their student loans–even as they are paid less than adult specialists)

“The bill also would increase Medicaid reimbursement to primary care physicians for evaluation and management codes to Medicare levels for two years.” (This is some of that fine print that is tough to explain here but I am sure Aimee would answer it for us if you comment below).


Read more from Aimee at Health Reform That's Good for Kids