Health reform is working

Opinion: November 15, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Philadelphia Inquirer: Emboldened congressional Republicans are predicting a rocky couple of years ahead for the health-care overhaul that they disparagingly call “Obamacare” — as they hatch plans to scuttle the law by holding up funding for key elements.

But they had better act quickly.

Millions of Americans already are enjoying tangible benefits from the health-care law, and they’re not likely to look kindly on having those benefits weakened, much less revoked.

The list of benefits so far includes: required coverage of preventive services such as childhood immunizations and cancer screenings for women; a ban on denying coverage for youngsters with preexisting medical conditions; letting young adults still at home remain on their parents’ health plan; barring insurers from setting lifetime limits on coverage; and a $250 rebate for seniors facing the Medicare “doughnut hole” in drug coverage.

Coming in January

As of January, there will be added incentives for family doctors who work in underserved areas, and cost controls on insurers to assure premiums are used for health care rather than executives’ salaries.

A year from now, additional funding will be provided for community health centers (the centers that Republicans have offered as their solution to the problem of 50 million uninsured.)

So the GOP’s guerilla-style tactics to slow and even reverse health reform could well prove unpopular with growing numbers of citizens as the benefits of the Affordable Care Act (its official name) take hold.