Representative Keith Ellison with Constituents, 06/30/2012
Last Saturday was a beautiful summer day: sunny and hot. What made it even better was the Caribbean Barbecue hosted by Carlo Lachmansigh. Guest of honor at the BBQ was Keith Ellison, our House of Representatives legislator.
For purposes of political transparency, I must say that I am a fan of Keith’s.
Carlo is a small businessman and he hosted the BBQ at his business, Carlo Electrical Supply and sales. Carlo and a number of of those attending are members of NAMC, the National Association of Minority Contractors. There were also a number of people from the neighborhood.
We gathered in the meeting room and Keith began by covering the big news of the day, the Supreme Courts upholding of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), called by many, Obamacare. Keith pointed to the fact that many Americans, when polled, are not happy with ACA until asked about specific programs. He said that this was the result of several things.
The Republicans and the conservative media have misrepresented or distorted the ACA programs and benefits.
The Democrats have done a poor job of explaining and promoting ACA.
And importantly, much of ACA doesn’t take effect until 2014, at which time, Americans will have a better idea of what it does for them. Until then, the struggle is to keep the ACA alive and educate Americans to its positive impact on all citizens.
Keith outlined what we can do:
Take every opportunity to spread the word about ACA and its benefits. Some of these are:
You can not be denied insurance for a per-existing condition.
This makes insurance portable
80% of insurance premiums must be used to provide health care.
In the past insurance companies often had 40% administrative costs resulting in only 60% or premiums going to a person’s healthcare.
Insurance companies can no longer practice “gender rating” which forces women to pay higher premiums than men for the same coverage.
Insurance companies must justify any increase in premiums before an independent panel, before implementing.
This increases public transparency and helps to reduce rates. In the past, insurance companies could raise rates at will and with little recourse for the policy holder.
Parents can keep their children on their insurance until age 26.
Since the ACA went into effect, over 3,000,000 young people who would have lost their healthcare insurance still have it. Keith pointed out that young people, particularly men, are prone to injuries because of their active lifestyles and inexperience.
Drug costs are reduced. By 2020, medicare’s prescription “doughnut hole” will be closed and until then, there is a 50% discount for brand-name drugs.
The ACA improves healthcare coverage by ending insurance companies’ ability to impose lifetime limits on insurance coverage.
In the case of catastrophic or long-term illness, lifetime limits can severely restrict a person’s ability to get treatment they need. With ACA 105,000,000 people have had limits to their coverage removed.
And much more.
Work to protect and expand the Democrat majority in the Senate and increase the number of Democrat seats in the House.
Keith continued by listing the other significant accomplishments of the Obama Administration in spite of the stiff resistance from Republicans and conservative Democrats.
After his remarks, Keith opened it up to Q and A. 
After the Q and A we enjoyed the delicious grilled chicken, cabbage, red beans and rice, and water melon prepared by Mighty Chef, Hensley De Abreu.