| Health insurance reform has obviously inspired | | | | the front lines of medicine. Patients tend to see |
| strong opinions upon medical professionals. Their | | | | them more often than they do their doctors, and |
| livelihood may be at stake. In general, doctors | | | | often get to know them better. A nurse is more |
| have been split on the issue. Some fear that the | | | | likely to know if someone is struggling with their |
| increase of insured patients will flood primary care | | | | co-payments for frequent cancer treatments, for |
| physicians and result in lower quality of care. | | | | example. |
| Others believe that the recently passed legislation | | | | The majority of nurses consider themselves to |
| will help improve health outcomes, due to greater | | | | be patient advocates. They feel that they are |
| access to preventative care. | | | | unable to effectively advocate if a patient has no |
| On the other hand, more nurses have come out | | | | options other than the emergency room, due to |
| in support of the bill. While some worry about the | | | | being uninsured or under-insured. Nurses are at an |
| federal government becoming yet another | | | | even greater loss when a patient returns because |
| intermediary in their job, the American Nurses | | | | they were unable to afford the prescription |
| Association expressed its support for healthcare | | | | medications necessary to control their conditions. |
| reform legislation prior to its passage. The decision | | | | Reform of health insurance plans may or may not |
| to endorse it was relatively easy for Rebecca M. | | | | solve all of these problems. However, it promises |
| Patton, the organization's president; it includes | | | | to eliminate lifetime or annual caps on medical |
| more funding for educating advanced practice | | | | benefits and allow everyone access to decent |
| nurses. | | | | health insurance. There are nurses breathing a sigh |
| Putting aside their own self-interest, it is possible | | | | of relief, since they can concentrate on the health |
| that nurses who support health insurance reform | | | | of their patients as opposed to wrangling with |
| are intimately familiar with inequalities in the | | | | insurance companies. |
| current system. Registered nurses are often on | | | | |