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Aspects of the Affordable Care Act
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Our health care system is very unfair when it comes to who gets free insurance and who has to pay for it. Why do we have to sacrifice our health because we don’t have insurance or we can’t afford it? Obama signed an affordable care act which would allow all Americans the option to purchase or be provided with healthcare based off their income and employment. This is great for some Americans but not all. Some of the prices are outrageous for insurance. People with no income consistently qualify for health insurance. This is exceedingly unfair to people that work hard every day but still struggle to be able to afford health care. It is very frustrating to see someone that gets everything handed to them for free while you work your behind off …show more content…
She has 6 kids and all of them have been on state insurance since they were born. The fact that her, her husband and all her kids can get health care coverage for free and no one is employed in the household is very frustrating and ridiculous. How can they continue to have children after even know they have no income? I can answer this for you. It is because there is no need to work when you know you will automatically get health care coverage for you and your children. So why is it that the unemployed have easy access to the health care over the employed? I get furious with this topic because when I had my daughter my placenta tore when I was 15 weeks. It was all downhill from that day but, luckily my daughter held on until I delivered. Overall I ended up paying $34k in medical bills and I had insurance!! I don’t even make that much in one year, so how am I supposed to pay that. If I was unemployed with no income I would have insurance for free with no outrageous premium. This is so unbalanced and unfair in my eyes. Why am I being punished for working hard to support my children but yet I continue to be in debt because of the health care. Meanwhile the unemployed people get health coverage that pays for everything, they can go to the emergency room in a heartbeat. Do you think this is unfair? Or would you gladly pay $34k out of your
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.
Health care inequality has long been customary in the United States. Those in lower classes have higher morbidity, higher mortality, higher infant mortality, and higher disability. Millions of low-income families and individuals have gone with out the care they need simply because they cannot afford it. Denial of benefits due to pre-existing conditions, outrageous deductibles, and unreasonable prescription prices are in large part why the low-income class suffers. In addition, not receiving preventative health care, lack of access to exercise equipment and lack of availability to fresh foods all create health problems that become to expensive to fix. Low-income families need to have better, more affordable access to health care, specifically preventative health care, and be more educated about the benefits of health care in order to narrow the gap of inequality. The new Affordable Care Act under the Obama administration expands heath care coverage to many low income families and individuals by lowering the eligibility requirements for Medicaid, although it is not mandatory for individual states to make this expansion for Medicaid coverage.(CITE) It also requires that preventative health care be included in coverage by insurance companies. So with all the benefits the expansion of Medicaid could offer, why would some states choose not to offer it?
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.
According to the most recent numbers posted by the Census Bureau, an estimated 47 million Americans are uninsured. But let us examine these numbers closer. Of this 47 million, roughly 7 million are illegal immigrants, 9 million are on Medicade, 3.5 million are eligible for healthcare but do not pursue these available health services, and approximately 20 million families have incomes above the poverty level ($41,300 for a family of four) and can afford regular healthcare services with more coverage. Government tries to add all these factors together to make the numbers higher, in an attempt to gai...
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.
41 million Americans did not have health insurance in 2001. In 2004, the number rose to 45 million. And in 2005, 47 million people were living without health care. On the other hand, 84% of Americans had health care in 2005 according to a census. So what is wrong with America's health care?
While our economy is struggling to get back on its feet, the unemployment rate is declining but at a very slow rate. With so many people still without jobs, many Americans who previously had health insurance found themselves unable to pay for private insurance or COBRA. COBRA is a health insurance plan which allows an employee who leaves a company to continue to be covered under the company’s health plan, for a certain time period and under certain conditions. With COBRA insurance one is now required to pay the full price for health insurance, meaning one is now responsible for the portion the company used to pay as well as the previous rates. For most of those who are unemployed, that is an amount that is not affordable. When one or more family members are unemployed, as is the case...
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.
The Lack of health insurance coverage is most often the result of a combination of things. These factors include employment status, financial conditions and even health problems.(Feldman 2012) These three things can been seen as reasons why coverage can be difficult to obtain. In most states, insurers may deny applicants for coverage completely. They often try to impose either a permanent or temporary existing condition that puts limitation on your coverage. some may even charge a higher premium based on your health status your occupation, and other personal characteristics . (Institute 2009) .For those people who consider themselves as self-employed who want to buy their own private health insurance, can be twice as expensive as that that is being offered through employers. (Feldman 2012)
As previously stated it does not, however, mean that Healthcare is free, nor does it mean that everyone will get every type of testing available. Regardless of which type of healthcare system America has people have always been left behind. The “Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care act.” Is structured to incorporate an integrated system that would essentially be Universal Healthcare. That would also mean that an insured person 's rates would not be increased to cover the uninsured. Universal Healthcare is a moral and just obligation. By promoting the health of our citizens, we then promote our infrastructure as well. Although it is not free and it will take time and effort to implement. It is worth an extra tax and the extra effort to ensure a Healthy and prosperous
According to the data given, by CTISP Community Survey 2010 by a Central Texas Region, Health care has a direct correlation to a person’s income or lack thereof. Table 1 displays a graph of respondents to a community survey about Health Care Coverage. The graph contains income amounts from $15,000 to $85,000 and percentages of people who do not receive coverage based on their income. The graph shows the lower the income the less likely to afford coverage. Table 2 displays, of those who took the survey their reasons for having no Coverage. The reason with the highest percentage was “could not afford prem...
...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.
In a perfect world all patients would receive the same level of healthcare and they would all be treated equally based on their illness. Although, living in a capitalist society not everything is meant to be equal. Our country was founded by settlers looking to escape from punitive taxation and were looking to be free from all other countries and start a new country. The United States is known as the place for people to chase the American Dream, where you work hard and the fruits of your labor can potentially payoff, overwhelmingly in some cases. However, not everyone can or will realize their American Dream since space is limited at the top. The richest Americans are able to enjoy larger homes, nicer cars, and lavish vacations. These are material items, but there is something else that they are able to buy that is not material, that is the right to life. The best healthcare can be viewed as subjective, but having more money you can buy almost anything, including the best care and options that people with less resources cannot. Therefore, people at all income levels experience different levels of healthcare. Many Americans are given access to healthcare, including those living in poverty, but that does not mean they receive the best or equal care as those who are wealthy, which is unethical.