Let the games begin.

The government re-opened and a new war started.  Or was it the same, old war served up with new fervour?

All this hue and cry to defeat, undermine, damage, remove Obama!  Oops, did I say Obama?  I meant Obamacare.

Actually, they’re one and the same thing when it comes to the haters, right?

It’s actually the Affordable Care Act (ACA) but I wonder if and when people will start calling it that.  Next generation, perhaps?

I strongly believe Obamacare is going to survive and get stronger and better with time, as kinks and issues are worked out naturally. It has to!

It will survive despite the hateful spewing of right-wingers who want to see it (and Obama) just disappear. I will be so glad to see their utter disappointment when neither happens and people begin to embrace it instead. When, in fact, people see it as just another natural extension of every other service that the country offers its citizens and residents. Like most other countries in the world.

I found an incredibly useful resource that attempts to explain in very simple terms what the law (aah yes, let’s not forget…it’s the law!) is all about and what all the politics that surrounds it is all about as well. It’s a refreshing non-partisan and factual take on Obamacare and I recommend it highly if anyone cares to review some facts. If!

There’s so much mis-information floating around that it’s really worth the time, in my humble opinion.

Here are the table of contents that will give you an idea of why it can be useful (click on either image to read or download this guide).

It’s not enough to have a law, however. It needs to be implemented well.

That’s where the Obama administration has (unnecessarily) so royally screwed up !

It’s a website, not rocket science! Why all the muck-ups? It’s like they’ve gone and added fuel to the fire of the enemy, and that, at the worst possible time!

Still, this too shall pass.

One day (just like in Massachusetts), people who cannot afford healthcare today -in the most powerful nation in the world, no less – will be able to have the security that they too can get health insurance coverage.

One day soon.

For all the complaints and all the noise and all the naysayers, yes, I understand that the law (and its implementation!) is not perfect. We need to start somewhere though, because it’s so badly needed.

This hits close to home and I can give one of many, many, many (,MANY!) such real, human examples of why:

I have a friend and a previous colleague who has a heart condition for which he was being treated. Unfortunately, during the economic crisis that we are still trying to get out off, he was laid off. Worse, a few months later, as he was doing something as mundane as taking a walk, he suffered a severe, debilitating stroke.

Now, he has what’s called a “pre-existing condition”. Before this law, that simply meant that no health insurance will cover him. None.

What does someone like that do for healthcare when he no longer has a job or health insurance? What??!

I can think of so many such cases, but forget them. Just this one individual represents millions like him who live in this country.

And it’s one of the reasons why I get so high strung and emotional about this topic (more than normal, I mean :-)). And yes, I know that it does mean that many others (more fortunate than him) will have to pay more to cover all those who can now get accepted into insurance programs. But is that any reason to not take this step?

It’s way past time for the United States to offer affordable health care. [Check out this great infographic of how US healthcare compares to the sixteen other countries in the world and this one about the absurd healthcare costs in the US.

And finally, after many, many decades and many, many Presidents who tried and failed, we now have it.  

And, lest we forget, it is the law of the land (get over it, folks!). About time, I say.

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