According to Newsweek, the University Medical Center on average has about $100,000 dollars a month in unpaid doctor’s visits and operations and special procedures; this burden gets passed on to the County taxpayer (Johnson). Unpaid bills occur due to people taken to the hospital and either do not have, or have very poor health insurance. The current process is not fair to anyone, whether one has no health insurance or one who has paid for it. Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise referred to as Obamacare, signed into law on March 23, 2010, this requires all Americans to purchase health insurance. The purchase of this care is purchased either individually or through the government market place. The act will lower the cost of insurance on all Americans, and additionally relive pressures felt at hospitals under the circumstance one does not have health insurance. Similar acts have been passed in states like Massachusetts resulting in high success; the individual mandate requiring Americans to purchase health insurance is justified and constitutional.
The health insurance debate is not new, as there have been numerous law debates, deriving in the law passing when it comes to health care. One of the first people to introduce a government run health care was Theodore Roosevelt in 1912. One of the reasons for bringing the bill forward was due to similar laws being passed in Europe; however, the bill never made it to a vote. Representative George H. Utter from Rhode Island once stated that he voted against the bill because he did not believe that the federal government had the resources to insure everyone (Fletcher). Also in 1949 Harry Truman proposed his Fair Deal Act: including giving aid to farmers, assist s...
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Johnson, Matthew. "How Obamacare Will Effect County Taxpayers." Newsday. N.p., 9 Sep 2012. Web. 7 Jan 2014. .
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Kolesnikova, Maria. "How Romneycare Helped Massachusetts." Boston Globe. N.p., 8 Dec 2012. Web. 2 Jan 2014. .
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However, our system is based on money. The more money you have to spend, the better medical services you will receive. ?According to the Bureau of Labor education at the university of main (2003), America spends more money oh health care than any other nation, "$4,178 per capita on health care in 1998?, compared to the average of $1,783. (BLE., 2003, p.23). Still an estimated "42.5 million Americans are living without health insurance", which prevents them from receiving medical treatment. (Climan, Scharff, 2003, p.33). The numbers of un-insured Americans continue to rise. Tim Middleton (2002) states, ?insurance premiums grow at a rate greater than wages,? when you have a low-income job. (¶ 9). With our current economy recession, taxes are rising and small business employers are unable to purchase health plans for their employees. Employees are realizing that they are unable to gain insurance from their jobs and beginning to speak out about the high price of health care.
Health insurance comes as second nature to many of us. We grab that blue and white card and put it in our wallet and forget about it until we are sick or injured. When this happens, there it is, cushioning our fall like the extra padding it provided to cushion our wallets. This is not the case with everyone, however. Many Americans have no cushion to fall back on, no blue and white card to show the emergency room when they have an unexpected health concern. No HMO with a convenient co-pay amount when their son or daughter develops an ear infection.
Health insurance, too many American citizens, is not an option. However, some citizens find it unnecessary. Working in the health care field, I witness the effects of uninsured patients on medical offices. Too often, I see a “self-pay” patient receive care from their doctor and then fail to pay for it. Altogether, their refusal to pay leaves the office at a loss of money and calls for patients to pay extra in covering for the cost of the care the uninsured patient received. One office visit does not seem like too big of an expense, but multiple patients failing to pay for the care they receive adds up. Imagine the hospital bills that patients fail to pay; health services in a hospital are double, sometimes triple, in price at a hospital. It is unfair that paying patients are responsible for covering these unpaid services. Luckily, the Affordable Care Act was passed on March 23, 2010, otherwise known as Obamacare. Obamacare is necessary in America because it calls for all citizens to be health insured, no worrying about pre-existing conditions, and free benefits for men and women’s health.
Johnson, A. (2013, 2013 1). 100 unintended consequences of obamacare. Retrieved April 11, 2014 from http://www.nationalreview.com/article/359861/100-unintended-consequences-obamacare-andrew-johnson
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America is known for democracy, freedom, and the American Dream. American citizens have the right to free speech, free press, the right to bear arms, and the right to religious freedom to name a few. The Declaration of Independence states that American citizens have the rights including “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” America promises equality and freedom and the protection of their rights as outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. But with all the rights and freedoms that American citizens enjoy, there is one particular area where the United States seems to be lacking. That area is health care. The United States is the only industrialized nation that doesn’t have some form of legal recognition of a right to health care (Yamin 1157). Health care reform in the United States has become a major controversy for politicians, health care professionals, businesses, and citizens. Those in opposition to reform claim that health care is not a human right, therefore the government should not be involved. Supporters of reform believe that health care is most definitely a human right and should be available to everyone in the United States instead of only those who can afford it, and that it is the government’s responsibility to uphold that right.
The Consequences Of Obamacare [Electronic Resource] : Impact On Medicaid And State Health Care Reform : Hearing Before The Committee On Energy And Commerce, House Of Representatives, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, First Session, March 1, 2011. n.p.: Washington : U.S. G.P.O., 2011., 2011. Louisiana State University. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
Klein, E. (2014). A health industry expert on ‘the fundamental problem with Obamacare.’ The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2/8/14 from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/01/09/a-health-industry-expert-on-the-fundamental-problem-with-obamacare
Bethany Anne Conway, Addressing the “Medical Malady”: Second-Level Agenda Setting and Public Approval of “Obamacare” Int J Public Opin Res (Winter 2013) 25 (4): 535-546 7 January. 2013
Porter, Eduardo. "Why the Health Care Law Scares the G.O.P." The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 1 Oct. 2013. Web. 10 Jan. 2014.
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