Joe Biden might be known for political gaffes, and President Obama might be known for promising change but both will be remembered for (among other things) accomplishing what many other administrations have failed to do for nearly a century.
Minutes to midnight, on Sunday March 21st, after a marathon ten-hour congressional session HR 3950: The Patient Protection and Affordability Care Act became law.
The debate over health care reform had been a controversial one, and it looks like it will continue to be. According to the most recent Gallup poll, 48% of Americans remain in opposition of the bill, while 45% stand in support. Within those who oppose the bill, the majority do so based on the congressional approach and not on substance. But, what many Americans, almost 60% of them according to the Washington Post, do agree on is that there was and is a need for reform.
Gen Y might not have a full appreciation of this bill; the result of three-quarters of a century long debate. But I think we do understand that it’s a significant moment in history, and more importantly, one that we helped to bring about. In 2008 Gen Y was heavily invested in the movement for change, and with the economy still in ruins there remains little doubt that in the long and short term this bill may have a significant effect on many of us
On the whole, reform is what gen Y wants.
A major part of Obama’s platform was fixing health care, and voters under 30, supported him over McCain by a margin of 66% to 31%. Furthermore, voter turnout among millennials increased a staggering 135% from the 2004 election to the 2008 election, and 68% of first time voters supported Obama.
By delivering health care reform, President Obama made good on his message of change and renewal, the very same message that drove Gen Y’s to their polling places in record numbers. But the broader attitudes of millennials trend progressive in many other ways. According to the New Politics Institute, 60% of millennials believe that political engagement is the best way to solve problems, and 63% believe that it is the job of the federal government to expand opportunities for all and not just the few.
Young adults aged 18-25 feel, more than any other age demographic that health reform is good for their generation, but less than ½ of the population feels that this reform will have any effect on them personally. If so few of us are holding out for a individual change where does the high level of support come from?
According to generational analysts, “Signs indicate that Millennials are civic-minded, politically engaged, and hold values long associated with progressives”. So be it good reform, or flawed reform, at least it is progress.
So is it perfect? No. Is it over? No. But it is a big fucking deal.
I'm a Gen Y member and take offense to this post. I'm sick and tired of the media, bloggers, friends, family, etc. making generalized statements like “On the whole, reform is what gen Y wants” that have no real research behind them. I didn't want it, my friends didn't want it.
Poll after poll after poll keep going back to the fact that the majority of America, in some cases >80%, are happy with their current coverage – references at the bottom. So why did we need a massive change that on the surface appears more harmful than helpful? There was nothing bi-partisan about this bill so shouldn't that have been an indicator that it have been the wrong thing to do?
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/24/obam…
http://www.gallup.com/poll/102934/majority-amer…
(We're also getting stuck with paying for all of this)
This journalist isn't making a generalization–she's quantifying a statistic. “Taking offense” at facts is, uh, extra silly. “I didn't want it, my friends didn't want it” may be your experience, but it's not at all true for me, and it's not the experience of the majority of Millennials.
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1501/millennials-ne…
The statistical identity of Millennials is an inversion of Gen X: from 7% identifying conservative/traditional values as a defining trait of their generation to 7% of Millennials identifying their liberal/tolerant attitudes instead. So if you're conservative, and you're a Millennial, you need to get used to being in the minority in your generation.
Great article! Mmm…all this reliance on solid statistical data makes a lady feel special…
I know tons of people who were about to be kicked off their parents' insurance plan, and more than a few of them are still un- or underemployed (not surprisingly, in this economy). Now we're set for another three years.
Everyone can agree that our legislative branch is the Jason Stackhouse of the family: big and pretty, but so stupid and useless that he threatens the stability of everyone around him. It's nice to see legislation having an immediate, positive effect on my generation for a change…
You're right, it's a big deal, but not a great accomplishment. Obama's plan essentially takes the existing system and expands it, then says, “if you don't like it, tough, you gotta like it or pay a fine.” This is dumb for three reasons:
1) The existing system is flawed in very simply ways (pre-exisiting conditions should be illegal, insurance companies should be able to sell across state lines, and health insurance should be decoupled from employers), yet Obama's plan does not address a single one of these (trust me, pre-existing conditions will remain an excuse to deny insurance).
2) It's punitive- rather than incentive-based. As anyone who knows anything about management will tell you, the way to motivate people is to offer them a reward, not to threaten them with punishment.
3) The fine you'll have to pay if you opt out of the system is a fraction of the what you have to pay if you opt in, so, um, call me a moron, but I think plenty of people will opt out.
Truly, Obama's plan lacks vision, innovation, smarts — all he's done is leveraged the government's power to print money to pay for a new entitlement program. If you disagree, cool, but please tell me why, don't just call me names (I'm plenty good at beating myself up for no good reason!).
Jeff
@Foggy Draper People are satisfied with their OWN health care, but less are satisfied with the overall American medical system (according to your Fox article). As a socially conscious society we see the harms in not having everyone insured. “Only 4 percent view it (becoming uninsured) as 'not much of a problem.'” (again, from your Fox article). And as Jen points out, this might not necessarily the best way to go about things.
Lauren,
What do you think of the CBO's stats for the cost of this system? Before you answer, it's a trick question. The CBO, by law, has to work with the numbers Congress gives it. The Dems control Congress, the CBO, and the Executive Branch, so it's no wonder the numbers “add up”. All of which is a long way of saying that you can get statistics to support any claim you want to make.
Jeff
He may have been referring to generalizations in that all the statistics that show “support” for HCR being cited, are those referring to which of the 2 main parties best identifies your views. If I support a woman's right to choose, does that mean I therefore support Obamacare? For instance, your survey expressed that more millennials are Democratic leaning than Republican. It also shows that Democrats have lost 10% of our generation in only a year after Obama's election (the largest drop over the course of the study): this is much more evidence that many of us are actually independent than blind-faith supporters of either mainstream party. Give it another year or two before riding your “majority” status off into retirement, it's the vast amount of (misplaced) arrogance in the 2 party system that is driving people like me to be independent. Scott Brown didn't win MA simply because Martha Coakley forgot to tweet.
@Jeff Ha ha ha, oh, I make no claims on the alleged cost of the program. I believe that the financial collapse and its ensuing debts are too complex for a layman to understand–at least, this layman! For lack of reliable information on this topic, I must preference my ideological beliefs and state that I preference the correct distribution of GDP over deficit concerns. A 16.2% and rising health care cost is unacceptable and will quickly bankrupt the citizenry, thus the country. So I will support any attempts to deflate this number–even those that increase the deficit.
Hey, you know, it's not a perfect answer! But I run a small business–I'm doing what I can to employ others and help the economy along on the macro scale. I don't have time to balance the country's books and post it on the internets–which I'm pretty sure is an activity reserved for crazy people, anyway. My ideal system would be a public option, so I'm not going to waste too much of my time defending something I consider less than ideal.
Ha ha, and again, the legislative branch is so backward it's at risk of penetrating its own anus.
Jeff-
Thank you for the comments, but let me clarify a few things:
Under the new plan, pre-existing conditions will be illegal. The full range of the law on this one will not be applied until 2014, but within the next 6 months, insurance companies will be required by law to cover children regardless of pre-existing conditions.
If you were to actually separate insurance and employers, you would see a drastic increase in the number of people uninsured. employer based coverage is the single biggest way Americans get health insurance coverage. Removing this relationship would benefit the employer and hurt the employee
I agree with your point about incentives rather than punishments, but i think that this plan has its incentives; Employer tax credits, individuals getting to buy into lower cost national pools. Not to mention that the increase of options and opportunity should be incentive enough.
We will always have a free rider program in this country, but i disagree with your assesment that people will choose to opt out of health insurance. The problem was never with the desire for health insurance, it was with the inability to access it due to cost, or medical condition- both of which are taken care of in the new plan
Health insurance is not an entitlement program, but this reform does drastically expand programs like medicare and medicaid. Both programs needed the expansion in order to survive.
So instead of doing this individually- i'm just going to clarify certain points and problems… okay?
@Foggy: Lauren was right, i was qualifying a statistic, not trying to make a broad generalization about our generation. Though i think on a whole, the stats speak volume about what our generation believes in. A vast majority of our generation, some 66% supported Obama and his platform of reform and positive change. As for it being partisan- you are right, it was partisan, the democrats were in the majority and we relied on that majority to get it done, but just for the record the bill was passed with the inclusion of over 200 republican ammendments, and opposed mostly on the issue of abortion funding.
Lauren: Thanks for the comment, support, and clarification. Though i do want to point at one thing, for us to be covered for another 3 years ( until the age of 26), they have to be either unemployed or have an employer that does not offer insurance. Plus they have to be claimed as dependent on their parent's tax return ( which sucks for me).
Scott: I agree that there is certain arrogance in the two party system- but i would point out that although i looked at who millennials were voting for, but i didn't talk about party identification. I believe that many millennials voted for Obama, not because of his party, but because of his platform.
And a note on the CBO- for everyone- they are an “objective, non-partisan” body that works with congress not for them. They are solely a financial body and do not have a political agenda. In 10 years this reform will cut the deficit by 130 billion and In 20 years this reform will cut the deficit by 1.3 trillion dollars.
Not to mention. In a USA Today/ Gallup poll conducted the day after the reform was passed- a solid 49% said it was a good thing, while only 40% said it was bad thing
We are talking about making health insurance accessible and affordable for 95% of Americans… Its not perfect, to that point i will concede, but we are getting there
Jen, fair points. Here's what I would say in response to you response!
PREEXISTING CONDITIONS – in my cynical opinion, I think the health insurers will weasel out of this before 2014. I mean, 3 years is eternity in politics.
EMPLOYER+INSURER = DISCRIMINATION I truly believe this. Why should the same person be able get health insurance if he works at IBM, but not if tries to start the next IBM? Not cool! Granted, this will only remain a problem if pre-existing conditions remain legal, but as I've said, I think they will. There's got to be a better idea out there!
FREE RIDES – If a barrier has been cost, than it remains under the new plan, in which by far the lowest cost is to pay the fine.
Jeff
note on “note on the CBO”:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassi…
Be sure to read part 2! Then call your doctor and ask for some morphine!
Jeff
Note: The fine for not including an individual based on preexisting conditions is $100 a day. Now, a child with incurable lukemia who's six months away from death? I hate to say it, but the company will take the fine. It's more cost-effective.
Here's the latest Gallup info for you too
50-47 Bad
Only Income bracket to think “Good” were those Earning >$20,000/year
“Nearly a week after that vote, however, public opinion has settled back to a pattern that looks similar to Gallup's final pre-vote reading in early March. At that time, 45% said they would advise their member of Congress to support the bill and 48% said they would advise voting against it. “
http://www.gallup.com/poll/127025/One-Week-Late…
poll also says the issue is party-line divided 81% democrats in the “good” 86% of republicans in the “bad”
But for us…
“And support for the bill continues to be higher among young adults — who are least likely to have insurance — than among middle-aged adults and seniors.”
18-34 year olds are 54% or 45% in the “good thing” column.
And i am fine having the largest amount of support from the lowest-earning income bracket- that is who we are trying to help
Not to be the consummate Devil's Advocate here but… a side of effect of pass now, figure out the law later:
Coverage Now for Sick Children? Check Fine Print
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/29/health/policy…
“but both will be remembered for (among other things) accomplishing what many other administrations have failed to do for nearly a century.”
Yes, they will forever be known as the Executive branch who along with a Democratic congress, went against the will of most Americans and chose to bankrupt not only us but our children's generation also.
I particularly enjoy the fact that the cost is predicated on $0 medicare waste and $0 medicare fraud, which are both currently in the BILLIONS.