Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 244 BOCNEWS.com JANUARY 2017 "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:31 There is no question that the Affordable Care Act also known as Obamacare did in fact help people here in America, despite its detractors. More than 7 million previously uninsured Americans gained health coverage in 2015, the sec- ond full year of the Obamacare coverage expansion, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During the fourth quarter of last year, just 9.1 percent of U.S. residents, or 28.6 million people, had no health coverage, the National Health Interview Survey found. That’s a decline of 2.4 percentage points and 7.4 million people from a year before. The additional 7.4 million insured builds on the 8.8 million previously uninsured people who got covered in 2014, the first year of the Affordable Care Act’s full benefits. Obamacare’s health coverage programs remain works in progress, with 19 states continuing to refuse the law’s Medicaid expansion for the poor- est uninsured and financial difficulties facing some major insurance companies participating in the exchange marketplaces where low- and middle- income households buy subsidized private insur- ance. But when it comes to covering the uninsured, the law has been a clear success. The Republican party mantra is "repeal", or "repeal and replace". There are some written plans in existence to do these things. However, we all should be a bit uneasy with the proposed plans. It is more than likely that less people will wind up with insurance coverage and health care access. This means for our country more sickness, more chronic diseases, more health expenses, and more deaths. This is not an outcome we should look forward to. To make matters even worse, Republicans themselves are not able to come to a consensus about what to do. I have heard a number of proposals, such as just repeal it, and the out- come would be about 20 million and some say 30 million peo- ple immediately without health care coverage. It has also been proposed that just part of the law should be repealed except for the parts that allow depen- dent children to be covered until age 26, and also those with pre-existing conditions can not be denied coverage. It has been said that after the "repeal", the "replace" may have to be deferred for 2-3 years. In addition there has been some talk about doing some scary modifications with Medicare, Medicaid, and VA benefits. The question I have is who is really in charge of this process and does anyone really know what they are doing? If the end result of this process is less people with health care coverage, or people with restricted coverage, the American people have been done a great disservice, and the changes would be chaotic. There is also varied opinions among the voting public such as: just dismantle the law, trim the law, expand the law or just go forward with the law as it is. I think all would agree that health care coverage is something we all need. There is one major issue that has not been dis- cussed and I have never heard this mentioned, and that is the state of health and medical care in our country. This issue is considered in the light of comparing our health care system and our general state of health to that of other rich, or we can say industrialized nations. First of all, our country has the highest health care costs of other developed coun- tries but we rank as one of the least efficient. We have major issues with ailments such as the obesity epidemic, heart disease, strokes, diabe- tes, and Alzheimer's disease. We have a rise in concerns with drug abuse, suicide, uninten- tional injuries and an epidemic of narcotic abuse (prescribed by physicians). In America today, we live shorter lives and our health ranks below these 16 developed nations: Japan, Switzerland, Australia, Italy, France, Spain, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Denmark, Canada, Finland, and Austria. One rea- son we are lagging behind is that we have just not been able to implement universal health care. We need to be able to treat well people of all ages, take care of those acutely and chronically ill, attempt to keep the healthy well, take care of many people who have preventable illnesses, and care for those at risk of premature demise. We need to do these things better than we have in the past, and take care of everyone in our country. Another problem we have to cope with is a growing physician shortage. The US is estimated to be short of 16,000 primary care doctors and this leaves 55 million people without such a physician. It has been estimated we will have bigger shortages in the future with a deficit of all types of physician numbering 130,600 by 2025. We have to think about these considerations as just noted in the context of the "war" against Obamacare. We should not make provision of health care a partisan issue. Lives are at stake. We need to make sure even the poorest of the poor amongst us has access to medical care. We need to make sure we at least catch up with the rest of the developed world! We need to just pray that the best decisions are made in the future in regards to our health care in America. The War Against Obamacare Dr. Conner By Byron E. Conner, M.D. HEALTH Another problem we have to cope with is a growing physician shortage. The US is estimated to be short of 16,000 primary care doctors and this leaves 55 million people without such a physician. It has been estimated we will have bigger shortages in the future with a deficit of all types of physician numbering 130,600 by 2025. 1. GOSPEL PIONEER REUNION - VARIOUS 2. MIGHTY CLOUDS OF JOY - REBIRTH 3. VASHAWN MITCHELL - SECRET PLACE 4. BISHOP PAUL MORTON - LEGACY 5. CANON - LVC3 6. LUTHER BARNES - FAVOR OF GOD 7. TAMELA MANN - ONE WAY 8. FRED HAMMOND - WORSHIP JOURNAL LIVE 9. SHAWN JONES - VICTORY 10 CHURCH CHOIR (JOHN P KEE - - IF GOD BE FOR US