Since the initiation of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, Americans have been put back in charge of their individual health care. Under this new law, a health insurance marketplace provides a haven for individuals without insurance to gain coverage. Just this year, citizens found out early whether they qualified for Medicare or the CHIP formally known as the Children’s Health Insurance Program. So much is to be learned about the Affordable Care act and this paper provides the roles of the different governmental branches, along with other important factors associated with this law.
Involvement of Government and Lobbying Groups
Obama Care, as most would call it, was passed by the United States Senate, approved by the House of Representatives, and signed into law by the President of The United States (Health care and government, 2013). The lives of many individuals were changed by this initiation as all three branches played a role in the passing into law.
In the early years of 2009 to 2010 the political process pushed health care through legislation led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Health care and government, 2013). This process was extraordinarily tiring, as many defenders of the bills passing were present. Many congressional members “dug their heels in”, and wanted to slow down the process even more as confusion about the bill was posed (Health care and government, 2013). Despite opposition by many sides of the American people, a Democrat-dominated House of Representatives passed the bill and the Affordable Care Act was signed into action on March 21, 2010 (Hogberg, 2013). Indeed, all three branches of government were instrumental with the passing the Affordable Care Act into place.
Balance of Markets and t...
... middle of paper ...
...care. Retrieved from
http://www.medicare.gov/about-us/affordable-care-act/affordable-care-act.html
Medicaid and Government. (2013). Affordable care act. Retrieved from
www.medicaid.gov/AffordableCareAct/Affordable-Care-Act.htm
Newswire Association. (2014). Affordable care act: Drives cash market for healthcare.
Retrieved from http://insurancenewsnet.com/oarticle/2014/03/25/affordable-care-
act-obamacare-drives-cash-market-for-healthcare-a-
479401.html#.UzYlZNJOWM8
The Heritage Foundation. (2014). Medicaid provides poor quality care: What the research shows. Retrieved from http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/05/medicaid-provides-poor-quality-care-what-the-research-shows
University of Wisconsin-Maddison. (2012). What does the affordable care act do for low income families? Retrieved from www.irp.wisc.edu/.../pdfs/FF15-2012.pdf
Where the states stand on Medicaid Expansion. (2014, March 28). Retrieved April 20, 2014, from http://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/resources/primers/medicaidmap
"The Pros and Cons of ObamaCare." UPMC. N.p., 6 Nov 2013. Web. 14 Apr 2014.
Healthcare has been a topic of discussion with the majority of the country. Issues with insurance coverage, rising costs, limited options to gain coverage, and the quality of healthcare have become concerns for law makers, healthcare providers and the general public. Some of those concerns were alleviated with the passing of the Affordable Care Act, but new concerns have developed with problems that have occurred in the implementation of the new law. The main concerns of the country are if the Affordable Care Act will be able to overcome the issues that plagued the old healthcare system, the cost of the program, and how will the new law affect the quality of the health delivery system.
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.
Both the Clinton and Obama administrations expended considerable effort during their first term attempting to persuade Congress to pass major legislation which would reform the American Healthcare system. Both efforts were met with considerable public opposition. And yet, while the Clinton effort ultimately proved fruitless, Obama’s endeavor let to the passage of the Affordable Care Act. What can account for these differing outcomes? The history of the Clinton and Obama health care reform proposals indicates both the importance of political capital, and the limits of executive control over the development of legislation. The Affordable Care Act passed because Obama entered the Presidency with a larger degree of political support than President Clinton had, and more importantly, because he adopted a more successful
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...
Tate, Nick J.. ObamaCare Survival Guide: The Affordable Care Act and What It Means for You
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.
Obama Care has been a critical issue that has been discussed in many areas, especially in the social media, Television programs and also in the Newspapers. New York Times (Feb 4 2014) and Huffing Post(30th Jan 2014) have carried out a candid discussion on this issue with their recent articles receiving immense praise and the same time several jibes from different states in America. The Obama Care issue has led to a great political tussle between the Republicans and Democrats.
The beginnings of the Affordable Care Act started in 2008 when Barack Obama was running for president. He said “On healthcare reform, the American people are too often offered two extremes - government-run healthcare with higher taxes or letting the insurance companies operate without rules...I believe both of these extremes are wrong”. Obama won the Presidential election that November. In March of 2009 a “health summit” was brought together and Governor Kathleen
McDonough, John E., and Eli Y. Adashi. "Realizing the Promise of the Affordable Care Act--January 1, 2014." JAMA: The Journal Of The American Medical Association 311.6 (2014): 569-70. Print.
On Sunday, March 21st, the president waited to see whether he had convinced just enough members of his own party to push the bill through. On the vote, the yess' were 219, and the no's were 212. The motion was carried and it was all Democrats, no Republicans, a huge victory for this president.For decades, they have been trying to do it, pass healthcare reform and now it had now been done. It was victory, but Washington knew, the president would soon pay for it and on top of that the democrats hope for a bipartisanship was smashed.
Crowley, Ryan A., and William Golden. "Health Policy Basics: Medicaid Expansion." Annals Of Internal Medicine 160.6 (2014): 423-426. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
"Impacts of the Affordable Care Act." USA Today. 16 Mar. 2012: A4. eLibrary. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
“Medicare and the New Health Care Law — What it Means for You.” (2010). Medicare Publications, http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/11467.pdf