ONE ON ONE WHY HEALTHCARE REFORM COULD BE A BOON FOR STEM PROFESSIONALS k
Kathleen Sebelius accepted President Barack Obama’s request to become secretary of health and human services knowing full well that she was stepping into controversy as a point-person in the president’s historic effort to overhaul the nation’s healthcare system.
What she could not have known was just how controversial the healthcare bill would become.
The Obama administration describes the law as the classic win-win. It would lower the unsustainable increases in healthcare costs, which would allow the federal and state governments to get a better grip on their budgets, and allow U.S. companies to become more competitive globally. In addition, the law would expand healthcare cover- age to millions of Americans who go without it.
Many experts agree with that analysis. But the law, which goes into full effect in 2014, has come under unrelenting attack from some conservatives. During the congressional debate over the law, some opponents accused the admin- istration of wanting to form “death panels,” to lower healthcare costs by determining who should receive care— a blatantly untrue assertion.
Republican state officials have sued, say- ing that the law is an unconstitutional infringement on states’ rights. Other critics say the law mandates that require people to have health insurance and its subsidies violate individual liberty while creating another unsustainable fiscal crunch for those who can’t afford the services.
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius
candidates, who promise to try to derail the law by with- holding funding if they gain control of Congress.
The critique of “Obamacare” has helped feed public skep- ticism about the law, which is unpopular in public opin- ion surveys, although many people applaud its individual elements. Blocking full implementation of the law has become a rallying cry for many Republican congressional
76 WOMENOFCOLOR | FALL 2010
Sebelius, 62, now finds herself in the middle of a fight that could well shape the legacy of the Obama presiden- cy, even as she works to put the law into effect. Her task is complicated by the reality that many of the promised benefits of the complex law will not be seen until some- time in the future.
www.womenofcolor.net
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96