It seems like everyone hates the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA, also known as Obamacare). As a healthcare system aiming at improving health insurance coverage, holding insurance companies accountable, lowering individual healthcare expense, ensuring health choices and improving quality of healthcare (Corbett, & Kappagoda, 2013; Manchikanti, & Hirsch, 2012), Obamacare requires that everyone is mandated to have a health plan, while for the poor it is federal subsidized, children under 19 with pre-existing conditions must not be excluded from health plans, young adults under 26 can be covered under their parents’ health plan, and employers to cover their employees (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2011; Huntington, As it helped to expand the coverage of health insurance, established a patient navigation funding to increase access to health care, created incentives to healthcare coordination and integration and providing funding for community-based enrollment navigation services. Therefore, throwing the whole PPACA system will be unreasonable but adapting it, which Hillary is planning to do. On the contrary, if the PPACA is repealed, 20 million people, among which the majority is the poor may lose their coverage (Khazan, 2016). As for the suggestion of allowing individuals to have Health Saving Accounts, it already exists, which further indicates his lack of understanding towards As a risk pool system, people who live an unhealthy lifestyle making bad life choices are being subsidized and people who do the opposite are being punished (Aspalter, 2017). In the case of healthcare system in the US currently, poor people, who tends to have worse life style, are getting “rewards” for it: when they get sick, they can have treatment. For people of middle class, who tend to have better life style and who can afford a healthier life style, they are paying the premium, but as they are less like to use healthcare service they have been paying for. All in all, this system does not utilize people’s capability to live a healthy life style, since it creates on incentive. On the contrary, Health Savings Count, as a “tax-advantaged saving account”, people have an account, supporting by both them and their employer, which they can use to pay for their medical fee, if they do not use it, the fund will roll over year to year. Moreover, after retirement, savings in the account can be withdrawn (U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2015). Therefore, as long as individual stays healthy, they get what they have been saving, which is an incentive to live
One of the most controversial topics in the United States in recent years has been the route which should be undertaken in overhauling the healthcare system for the millions of Americans who are currently uninsured. It is important to note that the goal of the Affordable Care Act is to make healthcare affordable; it provides low-cost, government-subsidized insurance options through the State Health Insurance Marketplace (Amadeo 1). Our current president, Barack Obama, made it one of his goals to bring healthcare to all Americans through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. This plan, which has been termed “Obamacare”, has come under scrutiny from many Americans, but has also received a large amount of support in turn for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons include a decrease in insurance discrimination on the basis of health or gender and affordable healthcare coverage for the millions of uninsured. The opposition to this act has cited increased costs and debt accumulation, a reduction in employer healthcare coverage options, as well as a penalization of those already using private healthcare insurance.
The aim of affordable care act (ACA) was to extend health insurance coverage to around 15% of US population who lack it. These include people with no coverage from their employers and don’t have coverage by US health programs like Medicaid (Retrieved from, https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/affordable-care-act/). To achieve this, the law required all Americans to have health insurance which is a reason of controversy because, it was inappropriate intrusion of government into the massive health care industry and insult to personal liberty. To make health care more affordable subsidies are offered and the cost of the insurance was supposed to be reduced by bringing younger, healthier people to the health insurance system. This could be controversial, if older, sicker people who need the coverage most enter the market but younger group decline to do so. The insurance pool will be unbalanced and the cost of coverage will rise correspondingly.
Access to healthcare provides financial stability by assuring people that they will not be financially destroyed by injury or illness. Additionally, when people can afford regular medical care they tend to avoid chronic problems and financial stress. In a study provided by the American Medical Students Association, researchers reviewed the costs and benefits of universal health care. They came to the conclusion, after reviewing other articles and statistics from multiple sources, that, “The annual cost of diminished health and shorter life spans of Americans without insurance is $65-$130 billion.” (Chua 5) This comes from people not having adequate health care and then losing their jobs because they...
The main goals of the law are to offer healthcare to all Americans, stop the rising costs of insurance, increase the number of "consumer benefits and protections," and solve several other healthcare concerns (Tate 13-15). What are some of the pros and cons of PPACA, and is this law good or bad for our country at this time? The pros of PPACA include providing insurance to the "32 million" people that do not have insurance (Amadeo). These are the people who consistently show up in the "emergency room" and usually do not pay their bills, creating a rise in the cost of health insurance for everyone else (Amadeo). The law requires all insurance plans to cover certain preventative care in order to diagnose illnesses before they reach the state (Amadeo).
The United States spends vast amounts on its healthcare, while falling short of achieving superiority over other developed nations. One cannot overlook that the deepening recession has left many without jobs and therefore lacking health insurance. According to Fairhall and Steadman, (2009), even though the recession is hard on all, it is worse on the uninsured due to health care and insurance cost rising faster than incomes. Nevertheless, even those with jobs are lacking in health insurance due to employers, who provide insurance, are increasingly dropping their sponsored insurance. Many find that purchasing a health policy or paying for medical care out-of-pocket is cost prohibitive. “Since the recession began in December 2007, the number of unemployed Americans has increased by 3.6 million,” (Fairhall & Steadman, 2009). In 2009 it was stated that approximately 46 million Americans were uninsured, however not all of that number is due to the inability to afford coverage. According to a 2009 story written by Christopher Weaver of Kaiser Health News, 43% of that number should be classified as “voluntarily” uninsured. This subset of uninsured Americans consist of nearly half being young and healthy; therefo...
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.
Although aggressive opponents of the law call it Obama care, Obama accepts this nickname as it does accurately reflect his care for those who were going bankrupt due to sickness. The PPACA brings more than 30 million uninsured Americans under the attention of the obligation that everyone acquire insurance in exchange for security that the sick cannot be denied coverage (Woodward, 2012). The Affordable Care Act benefits to reconstruct the healthcare system by giving more Americans access to superior, reasonable health insurance and supports to curtail the growth of healthcare spending in the U.S. People with health insurance will have access to a number of new benefits, privileges, and defenses that ensure that they can get treatment when they need it. This helps over 32 million Americans afford health care who could not get it before.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed by President Barack Obama is a significant change of the American healthcare system since insurance plans programs like Medicare and Medicaid (“Introduction to”). As a result, “It is also one of the most hotly contested, publicly maligned, and politically divisive pieces of legislation the country has ever seen” (“Introduction to”). The Affordable Care Act should be changed because it grants the government too much control over the citizen’s healthcare or the lack of individual freedom to choose affordable health insurance.
The Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare, is a new health policy created by the American federal government. Its purpose is to make healthcare more affordable and friendly for the people. Unfortunately in some way that does not prove to be the case. It is becoming apparent that Obama may have made some misleading statements to help get the ACA put into action. The ACA is sprinkled with many flaws that call for a reform such as people’s current plans being terminated, high costs, and at minimum some people’s hours being cut by their employers.
Our healthcare system has developed into a burden for most people and has terrible consequences for others. It consists of everyone paying for healthcare as a whole, instead of people paying for themselves. This system of healthcare has burdened the people who take care of themselves and have money, but extends the life of people who do not take care of themselves and live in poverty. This is not pleasant for the one’s who decided to go to school and make well over minimum wage. In turn, they are the individuals who end up paying for the people who decided to make bad decisions in their life that put them in the minimum wage position. Clearly, laws regulate the insurance companies but these regulations do not make any sense to many. Balko explains that, “More and m...
There is an ongoing debate on the topic of how to fix the health care system in America. Some believe that there should be a Single Payer system that ensures all health care costs are covered by the government, and the people that want a Public Option system believe that there should be no government interference with paying for individual’s health care costs. In 1993, President Bill Clinton introduced the Health Security Act. Its goal was to provide universal health care for America. There was a lot of controversy throughout the nation whether this Act was going in the right direction, and in 1994, the Act died. Since then there have been multiple other attempts to fix the health care situation, but those attempts have not succeeded. The Affordable Care Act was passed in the senate on December 24, 2009, and passed in the house on March 21, 2010. President Obama signed it into law on March 23 (Obamacare Facts). This indeed was a step forward to end the debate about health care, and began to establish the middle ground for people in America. In order for America to stay on track to rebuild the health care system, we need to keep going in the same direction and expand our horizons by keeping and adding on to the Affordable Care Act so every citizen is content.
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.
Less than a quarter of uninsured Americans believe the Affordable Care Act is a good idea. According to experts, more than 87 million Americans could lose their current health care plan under the Affordable Care Act. This seems to provide enough evidence that the Affordable Care Act is doing the exact opposite of what Democrats promised it would do. On the other hand, this law includes the largest health care tax cut in history for middle class families, helping to make insurance much more affordable for millions of families. The Affordable Care Act has been widely discussed and debated, but remains widely misunderstood.
Health insurance facilitates entry into the health care system. Uninsured people are less likely to receive medical care and more likely to have poor health. Many Americans are foregoing medical care because they cannot afford it, or are struggling to pay their medical bills. “Adults in the US are more likely to go without health care due to cost” (Schoen, Osborn, Squires, Doty, & Pierson, 2010) Many of the currently uninsured or underinsured are forced accept inferior plans with large out-of-pocket costs, or are not be able to afford coverage offered by private health insurers. This lack of adequate coverage makes it difficult for people to get the health care they need and can have a particularly serious impact on a person's health and stability.
...ing in the U.S. The Affordable Care Act expands the affordability, quality, and availability of private and public health insurance through consumer protections, regulations, subsidies, taxes, insurance exchanges, and other reforms. I believe mandatory health coverage is a step in the right direction towards a future with universal health care. Although Obamacare may help americans to better afford quality health insurance, it is not a national healthcare program provided to the U.S citizens free of cost. The fact that citizens will be forced to purchase ObamaCare plans or be fined or penalized on their taxes for not doing so, further suggests that healthcare today is a priviledge not a right.