Analysis of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)

1017 Words3 Pages

In a cultural and technological world so heavily influenced by the United States, the lack of access to universal and affordable health care remains a critical point of debate and embarrassment in a country far behind in its citizen's accessibility to it. The current establishment's answer, known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), is a piece of passed legislation that aims to put forth access to a market in which insurance providers compete within fair rates to insure those who previously had no access or could not afford it. Though recently put to the test in a number of states, a number of glaring ethical and operational issues remain that will test the fiber of the new found plan in which some cases show that it is more detrimental to some citizens rather than helpful. In effect, the goal by which the Affordable Care Act seeks to address providing insurance to millions of people who would otherwise be unable to gain access is an honorable and perhaps necessary gesture, but the ethical questions of whether or not this particular approach violates the rights of citizens, or is a natural right unto itself remains untested.
Though the United States spends more annually than any other country on health care costs, “... with per capita health expenditures far above those of any other nation” (Bodenheimer 1), it is still historically considered to be one of the weaker health systems among other industrialized nations. When compared to six other modern nations in a 2010 study by Commonwealth Fund, the United States “ranked last overall … on measures of quality, efficiency, access to care, equity, and the ability to lead long, healthy, productive lives” (Fox 1). With the advent of the Obama administration and the ACA, the government at ...

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...ship, Accountability and Ethics 8.3 (2011): 89-95. ProQuest. Web. 2 May 2014.
Schimmel, Noam. "The Place of Human Rights in American Efforts to Expand and Universalize Healthcare." Human Rights Review14.1 (2013): 1-29. ProQuest. Web. 2 May 2014.
Fox, Bethanne. "U.S. Ranks Last Among Seven Countries on Health System Performance Based on Measures of Quality, Efficiency, Access, Equity, and Healthy Lives - The
Commonwealth Fund." U.S. Ranks Last Among Seven Countries on Health System
Performance Based on Measures of Quality, Efficiency, Access, Equity, and Healthy Lives
-The Commonwealth Fund. N.p., 23 June 2010. Web. 01 May 2014. .
"United North America." United North America. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2014. .

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