SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif- In San Luis Obispo, some health care professionals are calling this President Obama's Health Care Law a landmark decision, but there are varying opinions.
"This is a victory not just for the hospital, this is a victory for the nation and for people who don't have access to health care currently," says Ron Yukelson, Spokesperson of Sierra Vista Hospital.
The law does still have it's detractors according to Sherri Stoddard from the California Nurses Association who says the plan is flawed. "All though it does some good things, it still leaves 27 million people uninsured."
But is this reform affordable for everyone? "People who currently can't afford it will be able to have access to lower cost care," says Yukelson. On the other side, "people will have to pay for insurance whether they can afford it or not and people will be left out of the system as they are now," says Stoddard.
For those who still don't have insurance by 2014, they will have to pay a penalty or a "tax". "People are not buying healthcare because they can't afford to, it just exacerbates the whole system that we have now," say Stoddard.
That is one of the key arguments, health care for some or for all? in California 7 million people are uninsured. "For the majority of the 7 million to now feel empowered that they have health care and have access to good health care and not just periodic health care but good continuity health care is a good thing for our population," says Yukelson.
Stoddard doesn't see it that way, "health care is healthcare it should be a human right and that's what we want. we want to see everybody covered everybody in, nobody out."
One thing many health care professionals do agree about is that there is a wait and see approach to this law.
