President Obama made a lot of promises in his 2008 Presidential campaign, and many of them were around changes he wanted to see happen in America’s health care and insurance system. Unfortunately, many time politicians will talk the talk in order to get voters to punch their ticket a certain way on election day.

Walking the walk as far as campaign promises doesn’t always happen. Just look at the Bush administration…don’t even get me started. It is refreshing to hear Obama say that he is welcoming ideas on how to reform the health care proposal he created during his campaign, and I am all for a system in which many have a say in ideas to find a solution that works for everyone in the current state of the economy.

But the real question is, especially after hearing President Obama’s State of the Union address: What is the buzz around Obama’s statement of “come one, come all” for hearing opinions on health care, and will it work in creating a just and successful health care system for America?

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As many Americans had hoped, President Obama is in office and the wheels appear to be in motion. The health care situation in the United States is just as grim as the rest of our economy, so it’s encouraging to see that the new administration is wasting no time rolling up their sleeves to let the health care reform work begin. However, before we get our hopes up that we are going to see some radical changes in the way health care is handled this year, some realistic expectations should be put in place. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and we shouldn’t expect new policymakers to miraculously turn around the somewhat dismal space our health care system has become. But what can we expect in 2009 from our government, and what might health care start to look like?

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Editor’s Preface: The new American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is a revolutionary step in addressing our most vital economic challenges. A significant portion of the money doled out by the ARRA ($59 billion) will go towards immediately addressing the health crisis. This two-part series by Tara Barnes will delve into the benefits of the stimulus package’s COBRA subsidy. We have also extensively covered this subject in “COBRA Health Coverage in a Bad Economy” and “Stimulus Package and COBRA Health Coverage.”

It cannot be denied-COBRA is a huge topic in the United States right now. People are up in arms about COBRA coverage (as can be seen from response here on previous blog postings) and some significant changes and new legislation put into place by the Obama administration may change the face of COBRA.

Spending in the ARRA for Health Insurance and Care Compared with Other Sectors

The ARRA (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) was signed on February 17, 2009 and directly affects the COBRA continuation coverage rules. Because so many Americans are upset with the way COBRA coverage works, will these changes benefit or hurt those who need to rely on COBRA to keep their health insurance? Are these new changes really going to make a difference in the things that citizens are frustrating about, like the monthly cost of COBRA? Read on to find out about the new act passed and how it will affect COBRA for those people living in the real world.
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It is no secret that I am a huge proponent of a universal health care system being instituted in the United States. If you have followed my blogs on medhealthinsurance.com at all, I somehow often manage to slip in a little blip about universal health care and all its glory, even if I’m talking about something as seemingly mundane as doctor’s visits. It is also no secret that this country is slipping deeper and deeper into a financial maelstrom. Experts may still be calling it a recession, but we are just a hop, skip and a jump away from a full-blown depression.

If we want to avoid an economic situation similar to that in the 1930’s, the government needs to do something, and fast. Obviously, the economic stimulus packages didn’t do what they were supposed to do, though I did enjoy having the extra money to fly home and see family in California. Borrowing more money and throwing it at the American consumers in hopes of “shoring up the economy” is a plan that just doesn’t seem to be working, and another path needs to be taken. And as you will see in the rest of this post, a universal health care plan might just be that path we need to sprint down.

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Even though he hasn’t taken up residence in the White House just yet, we have a new President. Barack Obama will be sworn in come January 2009, and in his suitcase of changes he wants to see made in this country is a revamping of the health insurance system.

Some of you may have voted for Obama based on what he is promising to do for health care, and other of you may have been McCain supporters, or simply do not know what Obama stands for in the realm of health care. No matter where you stand or what you know, the following account will serve to educate you on what Obama aims to do with healthcare and insurance here in the United States, and how it may effect you and your life.

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