The Supreme Court upheld the individual mandate.
Bold Nebraska’s reaction to the ruling is simple:
“Every single Nebraskan needs and wants access to good, affordable health care. In this toxic era of politics in our nation, its a shame that even the basic issue of health care continues to be used as a political ad rather than treated as the big issue it is. You have far-right groups and politicians screaming about individual rights and forgetting about individual responsibility. In the end you have to ask, where is the plan from those who oppose health reform? Why have we forgotten about basic human dignity?” -Jane Kleeb, Bold Nebraska Director
Videos of Nebraska health care stories: http://www.youtube.com/user/ChangeThatWorksNE 
*note on videos, Change That Works was the group that worked on reform with groups like AARP, Nebraska Appleseed and others in our state, Bold was not formed until early 2010.
Health reform by the numbers: http://www.healthcare.gov/law/resources/ne.html
I had the honor of working on health reform in our state with dozens of staff members and hundreds of volunteers. All of us put everything we had into working on passing reform because we knew a basic fact–our health care and insurance system is broken. Too many families go bankrupt and too many Nebraskans go without the basic care needed to fully live.
Faith leaders, workers, teachers, moms, young people, seniors, rural families all came together to hold events, made videos of folks speaking from the heart, and educated each other on what was in the law and what still needed to be worked on since the health reform law passed was the beginning, not the end.
We will post the comments from our Members of Congress as we get them. We do want to state very clearly that Sen. Nelson is a hero to many families who struggle to pay health bills and who just want fair access to care. He spoke out just yesterday on the eve of the hearing. Some will say he gave up his career for his vote on reform. No. He stood up for Nebraskans. Senator Nelson had the courage to care.
Nebraskans are benefiting from health reform, here are the numbers from healthcare.gov if reform is “repealed” like too many politicians are saying these days:
â— Approximately 15,280 of Nebraska’s young adults will now lose their health care coverage because they can no longer stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26, regardless of their dependent status.
â— Nebraska children will be denied necessary health care because insurance companies can go back to denying coverage for kids based on pre-existing conditions, like asthma or cancer. This means that at least 61,000 kids, and likely thousands more, will go without needed care, without insurance coverage, and parents will face bigger medical bills.
â— Preventive care, like yearly checkups, mammograms, and colonoscopies will no longer be offered without co-pays or co-insurance by private insurance, meaning that more people may go without cost-saving preventive services.
â— Insurance companies will continue to charge more on the basis of gender and health status.
â— Insurance companies will continue to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions and may refuse to sell insurance to any Nebraskan.
â— Insurance companies will no longer be required to provide value for your premium dollar by using 80 – 85% of premiums on actual medical care.
â— Those on Medicare with high prescription drug costs will pay more for their prescriptions.
