Bill ensures people in need have insurance

Now that Idaho Republicans have decided to sue Congress for passing the health care reform bill, perhaps we should ask who is going to pay for this implausible litigation, Idaho’s taxpayers?  Idaho is already broke and its education budget has been drastically reduced.

It is only fair that the Republicans pay for it, as many people in this state and the majority of Americans approve of the recently passed reform legislation. We will no longer be the only western democracy to not insure its working people against catastrophic illness. Some 32 million Americans who are currently uninsured will have health insurance, and insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage because of preexisting conditions or to drop coverage when people become sick.

Individuals and small businesses who can’t afford to purchase insurance on their own will be able to pool together and choose from a variety of competing plans with lower premiums. And health care will be more affordable for families and small businesses thanks to new tax credits, subsidies and other assistance — paid for by taxing insurance and drug companies and the very wealthiest Americans.

By reducing health care costs for employers, reform will create or save more than 2.5 million jobs over the next decade, and it promises to reduce the federal budget by $138 billion over the next 10 years. This should help us start to erase the trillion dollar deficit this administration inherited last year.

JAMES W. RAMSEY

Kootenai