The Civil Rights Act of the 21st Century

Upon completion of the overhaul of the US healthcare system through the passage of the House bill, James Clyburn D-South Carolina described the bill as the Civil Rights Act of the 21st Century. This seems an appropriate christening since so many aspects of this legislation are similar to the Civil Rights Act since it treats healthcare as a right and not a privilege. For one thing, although the legislation’s measures won’t take effect until 2014, it still stops insurance companies from discriminating against people with disabilities and makes healthcare more affordable.

Further parallels to the Civil Rights Act and the current reform bill are the public’s reaction to the legislation. It goes without saying that Americans were angry about the Civil Rights Act in the same way some are angry now about this bill. I’m just hoping the anger surrounding the current legislation won’t go as far as causing people to resort to riot/murder to show their discontent. Perhaps, after a time, a wider majority of people will come to see the bill as a good thing. It’s taken a long time but I think there is now a larger amount of Americans who would agree that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a very positive change. I’m hoping that maybe someday more people will look back and see that this new healthcare legislation is for the best and can do so much for so many people.

The fact that there is so much anger about this bill may attest to the effectiveness of the opposition in drumming up this anger. Since this new reform is complex people have seemed to accept what opposition parties have told them about the bill. Certainly, the Republicans repeated their message that the bill would raise taxes and the deficit and reduce peoples’ freedoms, to such an extent that it’s understandable that some would probably be swayed by these ideas since they were constantly reinforced.

I think also that unless you know someone who has really needed health insurance because of serious illness or you’ve needed insurance and been denied it because of a pre-existing condition, it can be difficult to understand why the legislation is necessary. Nevertheless, even though the opposition was able to get people angry about the legislation, evidently this anger wasn’t enough to stop the bill.

I have to say that I feel rather ashamed of the way some of the Republicans were reported to have egged on protesters outside of Congress after the healthcare bill was passed. I realize they were angry but I also think that as law makers they’re supposed to set a positive example and instead Republicans just seem like mobsters intent on opposing the bill through any means necessary. I have to believe that there’s a better way to oppose the bill. I see that raising peoples’ anger and fear levels is effective in getting people against a bill for a time but surely if Republicans really wanted to pose a really threatening opposition they should have come up with a healthcare plan that was even more effective than the Democrat-supported plan. If they had had a better plan then people could have advocated for that plan and maybe even stopped the current plan from passing.

As it stands, I can’t express how happy I am that the health reform bill passed. Healthcare isn’t and should never have been regarded as a privilege, it’s a right and now it’s a right that’s guaranteed to all Americans.

Sources: Clyburn's reaction to legislation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C65Q3LmBVKU

Civil Rights Act 1965 background information: http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/cost.htm