Luckily under the new health care reform law, most people will receive help paying for their healthcare premiums and cost-sharing expenses that people with insurance have to pay out of pocket for doctor visits, and prescription medicine. Families and individuals will be able to receive this assistance with incomes between one hundred and four hundred percent of the federal poverty line. One hundred to four hundred percent makes up at about $23,000 to $94,000 a year assume this is for a family of four. One of many solutions to help families to be able to afford health care is public option. This is an alternative solution to affordable healthcare for all. This works by having a government-run healthcare program which are exclusively available to two groups that lack employer provided health insurance. This program is also available to low income families or individuals. This program is sold just like how private companies sell their insurance in a New Health Insurance Exchange. The system is designed so that private companies are not able to take advantage of customers and opening a wider range of choices to choose from. Keeping costs down and premiums low helps avoid the problem of losing customers. Public option is take on full effect by the end of 2013 and it will be a self-sustaining program that is able to run without government subsidies. Funds will come from the administrative cost that the subscribers pay on their premiums. As of right now, the government has provided two billion dollars to start up the program and should whatever reason the programs goes bankrupt, the house bill will ban a bailout. This can help save families a lot of money by paying lower cost for government own health care system. In other countr... ... middle of paper ... ...ty to all individuals and families below the 138% federal poverty line. As of right now, twenty five states have rejected this idea of medicaid expansion. By rejecting this proposal, this will leave many Americans uninsured and up the cost of private insurance and taxes. Above all, if all states have decide to follow through ObamaCare's Medicaid Expansion they will conjointly pay $76 billion to insure up to 21.3 Million individuals who don't have access to health insurance for over the next decade. Regardless of what state, the federal government will help pay for 93% of the state cost of healthcare. Medicaid Expansion is a great way to help families below the federal poverty line get insurance and stay healthy. Without it, they will fall between the cracks forcing them to use Obamacare. In that case, it is projected to drive up cost of insurance for Americans.
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.
Due to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law on March 23rd, 2010; health care in the US is presently in a state of much needed transition. As of 2008, 46 Million residents (15% of the population) were uninsured and 60% of residents had coverage from private insurers. 55% of those covered by private insurers received it through their employer and 5% paid for it directly. Federal programs covered 24% of Americans; 13% under Medicare and10% under Medicaid. (Squires, 2010)
When it validated the constitutionality of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2012, the United States Supreme Court also ruled that states could decide for themselves whether or not to expand their Medicaid programs (Sonfield, 2012). Predictably, South Carolina said no. The Palmetto State’s decision not to expand Medicaid in concert with the Affordable Care Act was wrong, and it is time to correct that mistake.
The topic that I am choosing to do is on Obama Care. I chose this topic because the idea of the government forcing people to obtain insurance is wrong in my eyes. I am interested in analyzing the validity for what has been said about this topic in order to increase my understanding about Obama Care. I am not an expert when it comes to Obama Care. I know that this is an insurance that is being provided through the government for the general public. I have read that President Obama never initially read the whole bill itself. I also know that people who cannot afford it, but make too much money to qualify for Medicaid are being heavily encouraged to get this insurance. Some of the common knowledge that I have found that the general public has about this subject is that some people are for Obama Care and think that it is a wonderful idea and that there are some people that are dead set against Obama Care. Younger adults, specifically college age and individuals that are in their twenties tend to be for Obama Care. The insurance is being forced upon individuals that may or may not want it. It also seems as though that the insurance being offered is pretty generic in terms of coverage. Some of the questions that I have that I believe will aide me in writing this paper would be the following: What are the pros and cons of Obama Care? What are the thoughts of Obama Care with the people of the government? As well as what are the basics of Obama Care?
For decades, one of the many externalities that the government is trying to solve is the rising costs of healthcare. "Rising healthcare costs have hurt American competitiveness, forced too many families into bankruptcy to get their families the care they need, and driven up our nation's long-term deficit" ("Deficit-Reducing Healthcare Reform," 2014). The United States national government plays a major role in organizing, overseeing, financing, and more so than ever delivering health care (Jaffe, 2009). Though the government does not provide healthcare directly, it serves as a financing agent for publicly funded healthcare programs through the taxation of citizens. The total share of the national publicly funded health spending by various governments amounts to 4 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, GDP (Jaffe, 2009). By 2019, government spending on Medicare and Medicaid is expected to rise to 6 percent and 12 percent by 2050 (Jaffe, 2009). The percentages, documented from the Health Policy Brief (2009) by Jaffe, are from Medicare and Medicaid alone. The rapid rates are not due to increase of enrollment but growth in per capita costs for providing healthcare, especially via Medicare.
The intent is to create a healthcare system where health insurance coverage is available to everyone. Coverage is through a joint effort of the government, employers, and individuals. A disparity in coverage often occurs within vulnerable populations. This includes children, unemployed and retired individuals, along with their families. They are more likely to have limited access to healthcare while having an increased need for medical services.
The article discusses heavily the study "Single -Payer/Medicare for all: An Economic Stimulus Plan for the Nation" by Don DeMoro. According to DeMoro’s study, a single payer system is affordable and costs less than bailing out the banking industry. And the effects of the healthcare system would include the creation of jobs, increased business and tax revenues, and improved healthcare in general.
The author also believes that the Medicaid expansion extends beyond the politics, and has an aim to impact the life, health, and financial stability for the state and individuals. Medicaid expansion can be beneficial to many countries that have a large proportion of low-income people that are uninsured and or with disabilities. This can aid in saving the state money because much of the cost is provided and covered by the federal government, that encourages healthier behavior and results to a reduction in chronic disease due to lower health care costs. Although Texas opted out in adopting the expansion, legislators should decide on the advantage and disadvantage of participating in the Medicaid expansion to improve the welfare of the state. The expansion of Medicaid coverage will give low-income pregnant women the chance to reduce the rate in infant mortality and provide an opportunity for those that were unable to get coverage to be
While most countries around the world have some form of universal national health care system, the United States, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, does not. There are much more benefits to the U.S. adopting a dorm of national health care system than to keep its current system, which has proved to be unnecessarily expensive, complicated, and overall inefficient.
Medicaid is often mistaken as insurance strictly for the poor. This is not the case as many middle income households rely on this insurance. For this reason the program will be expanded to include more middle income households who are unable to afford insurance premiums. Unlike the current program all enrollees will be required to pay some form of a premium based on a sliding fee scale. This will allow these individuals to make some form of a contribution to the health care industry.
...r the following year .According to Forbes , the government will spend $ 2 trillion to expand the traditional insurance coverage to about 30 million uninsured .The government for its part says that by repricing program for the insurance market , the Affordable Care Act has already saved consumers approximately one billion dollars.
...while bearing a portion of the costs, and the states’ ability to manipulate the program to obtain federal funds (Weil, 2003). The overwhelming increase in Medicaid costs are born by the states individually and reflect actual costs associated with growing eligible population that requires the services offered by Medicaid.
Considering there is no finalized legislative bill for a public option, I am not able to provide a truly accurate assessment of this issue. Hence, in this paper I evaluate a few likely scenarios. I argue in favor of adding a public option as part of a comprehensive healthcare reform. The U.S. healthcare is very complex and requires significant improvements to address key issues, such as healthcare spending. The addition of a public option can be beneficial if it is carefully constructed and coupled with other policies to ensure a more sustainable healthcare system.
If this system went was forced into act, it is predicted that citizens will overuse their health privileges. Dr. David Kelley, PhD, reported when “...Medicaid went into effect in 1964, people living below the poverty line saw physicians 20% less...” However, when those poverty level patients were placed on Medicare, they “...saw physicians 18% more often than people who were not on Medicaid” (Atlas Society). Further explaining, people could take advantage of free medical services. However, referring back to the quote, individuals without Medicaid were not seeing physicians, more than likely because of the lack of health insurance or Medicaid. The data shows poverty-stricken citizens’ physician visits went up 18% after Medicaid was implemented, but isn’t that the whole point of healthcare? It continues with “...18% more often…” than those not on Medicaid, again leading back to the idea that those who are not covered, cannot afford medical attention. Implementing universal healthcare would allow doctors to financially proceed, possibly creating more offices for all of the citizens covered by the universal system. Once the nation’s health has been taking care of, citizen’s can then worry about economically saving our country by continuing their education, or possibly becoming business owners. Without universal healthcare, many intelligent, important, economic leaders and tax paying citizens could
Accessing affordable health care is a huge problem for many right now. Some people make too much and some don't make enough. Some sit in a gap where they cannot get help, but also can't afford it. Companies have been told to offer health insurance that meets the standards of the Affordable Health care act. According to the Health Insurance Market Place, " Plans in the Health Insurance Marketplace must cover contraceptive methods and counseling for all women, as prescribed by a health care provider. Plans must cover these services without charging a copayment or coinsurance when provided by an in-network provider — even if you haven’t met your deductible" (Birth Control Benefits, n.d.). Some companies have chosen