Opinion: Obamacare, government shutdown

By Mike Kelsey

The government shut down has begun and Obamacare has officially started.

It is one of the biggest bills to be passed in the last decade. The bill has created an abundance of ruckus over the last four years.

This has helped create a federal government shut down that we last experienced in 1995 when Bill Clinton was in office. It has taken four years for the Affordable Care Act to get to the point of public enrollment.

It still has multiple imperfections but at the same time has taken just as many if not more steps in the right direction.

This is healthcare that people all over the country can and will be able to take advantage of. Many students have taken advantage of the extension of the parental coverage of benefits and the numbers are vastly increasing.

The extension has allowed children to stay on their parents’ insurance plan until the end of their birth month at the age of 26 years old.

Along with the extension the law prohibits insurance companies from turning down applicants due to pre-existing conditions.

For example, I have just recently been pulled off of the coverage I had had since I was born. I am now almost two years into my college career and have no health care coverage. Obamacare would allow me to take advantage of coverage even though I am unable to get benefits through my employer.

For some people a simple sickness is not taken care of because they don’t have insurance and don’t want to go to the doctor because it’s way too expensive. Then a serious illness can put people in debt over their heads and cause bankruptcy.

One of the biggest problems of the coverage is the understanding of the law by the people. Most people are very unsure of the coverage and information behind the law and how it will affect all of us.

Problems and uncertainty are a huge factor in the persuasion and acceptance of the people involved. The fact that many people would accept the idea of the bill if they understood it better is a big deal.

Once this takes effect and we all get a grip on how this is going to work and everything gets ironed out, we will all be a lot more satisfied. American people are not ones to settle into something that is not working or people are unhappy with.

The Affordable Care Act will eventually become something other countries will look to us as something they would like to have.