By Jesse Walker-McGraw

Hello again! I’m back! Welcome to:

What You Need to Know About ObamaCare

Q: What is ObamaCare?

A: Its a law that’s been passed that requires people to have health insurance. There’s also some other stuff it does, including making sure that insurance providers can’t refuse to give someone insurence because of a medical condition they have. It also means that we (kids) can stay on our parent’s insurance plan till we’re 26. Our parents might have to pay a bit for insurance, too.

Q: Why is there controversy?

A: OK, I have to qualify this by saying that I’m a Democrat and I’m trying very hard to be neutral. Basically, the Republicans think that people should be able to chose whether or not they get health care. The Republicans have actually tried to repeal the bill 42- count ‘em, 42- times. They say that the bill will negatively affect small businesses and that people will be forced to pay for something they don’t want.

Q: What do Democrats say?

A: They say that people need health care. If they don’t have it and get injured but don’t have enough money to go to a doctor, the taxpayers have to pay for their medical care. Small businesses do have to provide health insurance for their employees, but there are financial aid opportunities for small businesses.

Q: What did Obama apologise for?

A: He had said that people who liked their healthcare plans could keep them, even if they didn’t measure up to the standards of ObamaCare, which says that insurance must provide a huge range of services, including preventative health care and mental health care. It turns out you can’t, so Obama apologised and the deadline for having new insurance has been pushed back.

Q: What’s the penalty for not having the correct health care?

A: You will either have to pay 1% of your annual income, or $95, whichever comes first.

Q: How does this affect STA girls?

A: It won’t really affect us much. If you don’t have health care, you’ll get it, and we’ll be able to stay on our parents’ plans till we’re 26. Convenient! Health care may be slightly more expensive, but we’ll have more benefits from it too, like mental health care.

Thanks for reading! Tune in next time! Also, check these out:

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/health_insurance_and_managed_care/health_care_reform/index.html?8qa

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/11/22/cnn-analysis-no-obamacare-subsidy-for-some-low-income-americans/?iref=allsearch