Bay Area residents sound off on the health care bill

Last night, after months of contentious debate, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a health care overhaul bill. President Obama plans to sign it Tuesday, when the Senate is also slated to review final changes to the bill. After last night’s vote, the President gave a victory speech:

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Tonight, at a time when the pundits said it was no longer possible, we rose above the weight of our politics. We pushed back on the undue influence of special interests. We didn't give in to mistrust or to cynicism or to fear. Instead, we proved that we are still a people capable of doing big things and tackling our biggest challenges. We proved that this government -- a government of the people and by the people -- still works for the people.

But the bill did not transcend party lines as the President had hoped. Not a single Republican in the House voted for it. But nearly all of the Bay Area’s delegation did vote yes. And California stands to benefit more than other states: nearly a quarter of our population is uninsured. This morning, KALW reporters went out to get some local perspectives on what the health care bill will mean for people here.

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REPORTER: While education funding issues are foremost on many minds at City College of San Francisco, health and wellness professor Linda Bacon has been thinking about health care.

LINDA BACON: I’m really disappointed to see the bill that was put forward. My area of specialty is nutrition and body weight regulation, and I know in particular that the health care reform bill is doing a lousy job in issues related to weight. I’m particularly disappointed in their focus on obesity prevention and treatment. I think that what it’s actually doing is creating a lot of fear-mongering about weight. I’d rather have us switch our focus to promoting good health for everybody, regardless of weight. And recognizing that there are more important ways that we could address it. For example if we look at social disparities in the health care system, we will do a much more effective job at eliminating Type-2 diabetes and heart disease than if we ever think about weight issues.

REPORTER: Do you think that the subsidization that will be done for lower income Americans to give them health insurance will give them more education on health-related issues, then?

BACON: I don’t think that they are effectively addressing getting health care to lower income Americans.

Elsewhere on campus, City College student Abdi Habad thinks health care reform is going to change his life.

ABDI HABAD: I work a couple of part time jobs, and I don’t have no health care. And I really, really don’t like getting the ridiculous bills that I get whenever I go to the hospital because I don’t have insurance. I think it’s awesome, I think it’s like so great.

Habad thinks passage of the legislation will galvanize America and the Obama Administration.

HABAD: Because I think a lot of funds and energy and time was spent on trying to make this bill pass. I think it’s so great that we’re moving into a change, time of change, you know. I think everybody deserves health care, and this bill would eliminate all the, you know, excuse my language, bull---- that these insurance companies are pulling on people as far as not insuring... pre-existing conditions. I think that’s crap. Because I think if you’re sick, you should have health care.

As Habad speaks, some campus activists are gathering for the next cause – lobbying for a California oil extraction tax to help fund higher education. Those who helped bring about health care reform now just need to learn exactly what they’ve enacted.

A few miles away in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood, retiree Frank Chase is sitting on a bench outside the Good Life Grocery, and he’s not happy about the health care overhaul.

FRANK CHASE: I think this is a grandiose idea, and not practical. And there’s just too damn much government and not enough brains in there.

Chase thinks the country has taken the “not” out of President John Kennedy’s question “Ask not what your country can do for you.” The U.S. Census provides another example for Chase’s frustration.

CHASE: “Be sure to fill it out, and get your share.” Or to that effect. Well, that’s what I think is typical of this country, is “get your hand out.” You get in line first. And it’s just going to hell I think.

Inside the store, self-employed urban designer Evan Rose sees it another way. 

EVAN ROSE: I think it’s great. I think it’s a good first start. It doesn’t go as far as I’d like it to go. But it’s a significant improvement over where we were yesterday. I think it’s really gonna give rise to an entrepreneurial spirit in this country – people who maybe are stuck in a job because they need the insurance. Now they can go out there and follow their dream and find their creativity and really benefit the economy.

In the Mission District, hardware store clerk James Porter, who’s walking his dog, says it’s about time U.S. health care was overhauled.

JAMES PORTER: I’m thrilled about it, it’s only in our country that we don’t have it. In other parts of the world, it’s like getting running water finally. I think it’s really great. I had to go back to work because I couldn’t afford my health care anymore. My plan that was $135 a month in 2003, was over $500 a month 6 months ago.

Mo Madono, visiting San Francisco from Brooklyn, is on her way to a yoga studio.

MO MADONO: Well I don’t have insurance right now, so I’m not sure how it’s going to affect me personally because I’m a freelancer. Also I’m young and I don’t have pre-existing conditions, so all the things that this health care bill addresses that are positive, like the elimination of pre-existing conditions, I think that’s a good thing over all for the public, but I don’t think it will affect me personally.

But retired shipworker Terry Dowd thinks this will affect all Americans, and not in a good way.

TERRY DOWD: I don’t see how you can insure this many people without costing us extra money and taxes. And then I’d like to know who’s being insured: whether it’s people just from here, the U.S., or the illegals too. Hard to say what’s going on here. We’ve got 4 million illegals over here, if they’re all gonna be insured too, who’s paying for this?

While undocumented workers were left out of the national health care bill, they can be covered in San Francisco, as noted by musician Heidi Jane who’s waiting for a bus.

HEIDI JANE: I would have preferred a far more sweeping universal health care bill, but I’m surprised that something went though at all. I’m totally grateful for San Francisco Health Care, so regardless of what happens in the rest of the country, we’re psyched that we have San Francisco.

These were a few Bay Area perspectives on the health care bill. More information on the content and details of the health insurance bill can be found in this New York Times article.