The Supreme Court last Thursday threw out a Republican challenge to the Obama-sponsored Affordable Care Act (ACA), President Biden called it a “major victory for all Americans benefiting from this groundbreaking and life-changing law.”
The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 to toss the lawsuit and allows former President Obama’s signature achievement to remain intact.
The ACA has been the law of the land since 2011 and covers nearly 20 million people.
Obama also put out a statement celebrating the ruling saying it “reaffirms what we have long known to be true: the Affordable Care Act is here to stay.”
I shared the news with Grandma –Obama and Biden are her favorites. “Trump was naughty though,” she maintains her posit on his era. “Too much noise, no care for the underprivileged,” Grandma said. She shared her views months after Trump walked away into sunset.
PM Khan’s Sehat Sahulat Program (Health Care Program) is good, she says nodding her head and adjusting her glasses.
It provides medical coverage to some 7.85 million families (47 million household members) and the satisfaction rate is 97%, I tell her. And the initial Coverage is for PKR 60,000/family/Year, while additional Coverage is for PKR 60,000/family. But she is not interested in numbers.
What’s important is that “all people living below poverty in Punjab, KPK, AJK, GB and 100% population coverage for newly merged districts of KPK and District Tharparker (Sindh) are covered. “Persons with disabilities (in AJK, GB, ICT, Punjab) and transgender community (across Pakistan), who are registered in NADRA and has special CNIC are also covered,” I read out to her from the program’s website.
“Acchha. Gharibon ka ehsaas toh hai us ko bhi” (Good. He also has empathy for the poor), she tells me in a raised voice about Khan’s program.
Can’t argue with her without getting an animated “Dur Hut” (back off in Purbi) from her.
So I shared a clip on “Acchha”:
I also shared the Biden and Obama video clip (above) with her. She said she understood what it meant and I don’t have to translate –she can read their body language and jaw-widened smiles and frowns, she said. God bless her.
Irshad Salim, Islamabad
