The individual mandate and the Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare”, is the idea that citizens should be required to have health insurance or otherwise pay a certain penalty. The Affordable Care Act essentially is the ability for all Americans to be able to afford health insurance. “One goal of the ACA, often referred to as the Affordable Care Act…is to bring down the costs of health care and make it available to more people.” (Will the Affordable Care Act improve health care in the United States?). The ACA was signed into law in March 2010 and currently ongoing. Although the Affordable Care Act does potentially have some positive effects to it, like bringing affordable health insurance to uninsured Americans; the Act does also have “Section 1342 of the ACA makes taxpayers responsible for bailing out insurance companies if the need to do so arises.” (MacKenzie, Tragic Problems With the (Un)Affordable Care Act). Although tax payers are legally obligated to finance federal programs such as the ACA, there are many who do not believe this is fiscally responsible. “Economist Laurence Kotlikoff estimates that average rates of taxation would have to rise 56% to cover projected increases in federal expenditures.” (MacKenzie, Tragic Problems With the (Un)Affordable Care Act). Therefore the American tax payers will never be able to supply the projected increases in this federal program, which makes national bankruptcy that much more likely to Senator Scott Brown a Republican from Massachusetts stated that: “States shouldn 't be forced by the federal government to adopt a one-size-fits-all health care plan; each state 's health care needs are different”. Senator Brown has a very good point, the ACA healthcare program does not fit the differentiating needs of the different states, and each state has different factors that go into the roles of their healthcare programs. Thomas Miller, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute also has opposing viewpoints toward the relationship between the Affordable Care Act and state healthcare programs. “Miller says the ACA will undermine the development of free-market dynamics in the health insurance field and force states to accede to federal dictates. At first, he says, states may be able to shape their own insurance exchanges through which people purchase health coverage. But that is simply because Washington made certain “concessions” to the states to induce them to back the law, he says. Once the new health regime is deeply rooted, he predicts, “the long-term dynamics will very much have Washington in control rather than having open markets.”” (Clemmitt, Assessing the New Health Care
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Show MoreThe 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?
I am terribly ashamed to admit that prior to this class I really did not have a position on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). I simply ignored what was going on because I had insurance through my employer and I didn’t feel like the ACA would have that much bearing on my life. I was aware of some of the positive and negative aspects but had not really given it all a lot of thought. The one thing that did intrigue and interest me was the potential for Medicaid expansion. This was both exciting and troublesome because my job is totally structured around people who qualify for Medicaid. Increasing the rosters would have had a drastic effect on what I do and would have meant tremendous growth for my business but since Tennessee opted not to expand
Just mention the word "Obamacare" and a heated debate will start right away. The legal name of Obamacare is "the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, PPACA" (Tate 1). The law has over 2500 pages and many have not read the entire law (Tate 12). Democrat Nancy Pelosi made an infamous remark back in 2010 stating "that Congress '[has] to pass the bill so you can find out what's in it'"...(Roff). This law was signed in March of 2010 and has a 54% disapproval rating among Americans today (Amadeo). 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 protection", 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?
Holahan, J. (2012). The cost and coverage implications of the ACA Medicaid expansion: National and state-by-state analysis. Retrieved from urban.org
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.
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.
Governing bodies for the prevention, treatment, and management of illnesses in America are now in a commotion because of the cost of care and patient access and the need for a more efficient system. There are approximately 50 or more million people currently in The United States that are without insurance today. In March of 2010 a country wide health care charge called The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed, that seemed to offer solutions to some of the major issues facing our health care system. June of 2012, this new health care law or tax was challenged in the U. S. Supreme Court on the Constitutionality of the bill with proponents wanted the Act repealed. A few weeks later the Supreme Court gave its answer, which was the law or tax is Constitutional and upheld it as tax. One of the biggest issues to this Act was the part where all Americans have to be insured by someone or be penalized, but the final analysis of this...
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 Affordable Care Act (ACA) or ObamaCare as it is widely known, has been a controversial political debate since day one. The Republicans have tried over 50 times to repeal it, to no avail. Like any other bill, there are good sides and negative consequences to it. People can go to healthcare.gov to sign up for insurance under the ACA. There is a plethora of information on the site about what should be covered, who has to participate, who can be exempt, where to get healthcare, why you should have insurance, and how to get it, along with a lot of other information under the Topic selection at the top of the screen. While there is a lot to go through and understand, the ACA still remains widely misunderstood for millions of Americans.
As of 2014, all Americans are required to have healthcare insurance and there are many people who do not agree with paying for health care insurance. However, I believe that The Affordable Care Act should remain available and required for everyone who either does not think that they need it or if there are others who feel that they do need the care. There are so many benefits on receiving health care insurance as well as some downsides. The Affordable Care Act was signed and passed by President Obama on March 23, 2010. According to “FamiliesUSA”, three in ten adults were uninsured during 2012 and that is about 55 million people uninsured. (“New Results from National Health…”)
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a federal that was signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010 to systematically improve, reform, and structure the healthcare system. The ACA’s ultimate goal is to promote the health outcomes of an individual by reducing costs. Previously known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the ACA was established in order to increase the superiority, accessibility, and affordability of health insurance. President Obama has indicated the ACA is fully paid for and by staying under the original $900 billion dollar budget; it will be able to provide around 94% of Americans with coverage. In addition, the ACA has implemented that implemented that insurance companies can no longer deny c...
The Affordable Care Act protects and insures every individual and household to give them comfort of not paying out-of-expenses. The main reason citizens feel they should not be mandated to become insured with health benefits is because they believe it’s unaffordable and they should not have to have health insurance if they do not want to. Congress feel citizens should be mandated because they are looking at the bigger picture such as the United States debt, hospital billing, budgets and insurance profits. As an ending result the “Obama Care” is passed and citizens have a specific amount of time to apply and receive health benefits or pay a fine until it is completed.
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.
“From the very beginning…. Obama’s message was not that the law would result in higher premiums, but better coverage. It was that the law would lower premiums, end of story” (Roy). Yet another promise has found itself broken after the ACA came into the sunlight of reality. “His $1 trillion in tax increases [hit] the middle class hard…” Mitt Romney said, “… in the health care system I envision, costs will be brought under control not because a board of bureaucrats decrees it but because everyone- providers, insurers, and patients –has incentives to do it” Unfortunately, that isn’t how it is. The nation is being forced into healthcare or being penalized for not joining the masses, because this plan will only work if there’s enough healthy people paying their newly doubled premiums regularly to help offset the expenses the unhealthy have right of the bat. “Back when Obamacare was being debated in Congress, Democrats claimed that it was right-wing nonsense that premiums would go up under Obamacare” (Roy). It’s now obvious that right-wing was headed in the right direction, and the middle class was
...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.