Medical benefits have been a popular conversation that has received positive and negative feedback. Why is having medical benefits important? Important to you and your family. Medical benefits can assist with families when in need and also financially hurt families that do not have assistance. Most citizens have the question of should having medical benefits be mandated by Congress. Having insurance benefits is a necessity because it means that if an accident was to occur and it required a hospital visit, who would be responsible for the hospital bill.
Having medical benefits mean the personal cost that the individual have pay for surgical and medical expenses would be at a percentage. Having health insurance will sometimes give you a reimbursement for from health insurance companies. Health insurance benefits are provided by the state and employers.
Question
Citizens do not have health insurance for a number of reason but the main reason is the cost. Private insurance is costly for an individual person and family. Health insurance provided by employers for larger companies of more than 50 employees. Depending on the package and company that the employer has provided the cost for individual or family may be reasonable. Each state provides a state-funded Medicaid insurance plan.
For the state provided insurance the individual or family must qualify for the program. With the state-funded insurance the individual or family may qualify for straight Medicaid or Medicaid Alliance. The states straight Medicaid requires no payment but the individual must receive referral to visit specialist and have to visit certain physicians that are assigned with their particular insurance company. Also, most families automatic qualify when they h...
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... there premium and the health benefits will lapse. That in turn will cause the head of household to face a financial fine for not having medical benefits.
Conclusion
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.
Works Cited
http://www.esca.com
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.
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.
Employers who do not offer an employee healthcare can leave them open to a different type of financial responsibility. Employees who qualify for a premium tax credit, in turn qualify their employers for a provision called the Employer Shared Responsibility.
The Affordable Care Act or “Obamacare” was designed to assure that all Americans regardless of health status have access to affordable health insurance. The Affordable Car Act was signed into law March 23, 2010. The primary goal of this act was to decrease barriers for obtaining health care coverage and allow Americans to access needed health care services (Affordable Care Act Summary, n.d). After the legislation is fully implemented in 2014, all Americans will be required to have health insurance through their employer, a public program such as Medicaid and/or Medicare or by purchasing insurance through the health insurance marketplace exchange (Affordable Care Act Summary, n.d). I will identify three parts of The Affordable Care Act that I believe are important. First, I will talk about the requirement that insurance companies are no longer able to deny coverage to individuals with pre-existing conditions. Secondly, I will explain why physician payments are being shifted to value over volume. Lastly, I will discuss Medicaid expansion and why some states are not expanding at all.
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
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.
At one time because of being a part time student and employee, I could not get insurance though my parents, my work, or my school. I was not eligible for Medicaid, and found the cost of private insurance was completely out of my budget.
From the hospital perspective mandating the health insurance will reduce the problem of Free riders into the Hospital and if a person who is insured visits the hospital for the treatment the cost of his medical treatment will not be totally absorbed by the hospital if the person is unable to pay for the treatment and the amount will be shared between the hospital and the insurance company.
As I said earlier there are a number of ways to get Health care. The problem is are they affordable? Well this depends on you annual income and living status. There are a number of private insurance programs such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, but many of these private insurance programs are usually policies that are through employers (Macionis, p 245). This is a problem however because only eighty-five percent of employed people receive health insura...
The Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare, is a new health policy created by the American federal government. Its purpose is to make healthcare more affordable and friendly for the people. Unfortunately in some way that does not prove to be the case. It is becoming apparent that Obama may have made some misleading statements to help get the ACA put into action. The ACA is sprinkled with many flaws that call for a reform such as people’s current plans being terminated, high costs, and at minimum some people’s hours being cut by their employers.
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.
It is hard to imagine life without health insurance. If you have any type of medical problem that requires attention, and you have appropriate health care insurance, you can be cared for in the finest of private hospitals. You can get great treatment and your ailments, depending on the severity, can be treated as soon as possible. Doctors, physicians and surgeons are willing to put out a big effort if they know that they are dealing with patients who are insured and have the money to go under extensive medical treatment. But imagine life without such luxuries. For example, what happens if a relative requires much needed surgery, but does not have health insurance to cover the procedure? What happens if a lack of medical insurance prevents you or your family from seeing a doctor, which could result in health problems that had not been identified but could have been treated before they became life threatening? These scenarios may seem far-fetched, but these types of situations happen to people who lack health coverage everyday. There is a true story about a patient who was insured and diagnosed with treatable cervical cancer. Unfortunately, she lost her job and with it her insurance. She was then unable to see her private doctor, and was turned away from other hospitals because ?cancer treatment is not considered an emergency in a patient who can?t pay? (?Help for D.C.?s Uninsured?). The woman later died at her home without ever being treated. This example raises the question, since when are people with less money less deserving of health care or appropriate treatment?
The United States passed bill that health insurance should be mandatory in the year 2014. Under the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act, each person is required to have at least a minimum level of health insurance failure to, the individual will face a penalty. The mandatory health insurance issue has faced reactions from both sides with some people supporting while others opposing. It is mandatory for every individual to purchase a health insurance depending on their earnings. The health care insurance is mandatory for all US citizens, and all legal residents in America. It is considered as an individual responsibility requirement, and those without this insurance are subject to a tax penalty of $750 per year up to a maximum of three times that amount ($2,250) per family. However, there are exemptions for financial hardships, incarcerated persons, religious objections, and undocumented immigrants. Mandatory health insurance is important, and should be applied in all states because, everyone gets ill and at one time, they have to visit a health care facility for medical services. In addition, it protects the health future of families, and protects people from unexpected high medical costs because they are covered.
Health insurance facilitates entry into the health care system. Uninsured people are less likely to receive medical care and more likely to have poor health. Many Americans are foregoing medical care because they cannot afford it, or are struggling to pay their medical bills. “Adults in the US are more likely to go without health care due to cost” (Schoen, Osborn, Squires, Doty, & Pierson, 2010) Many of the currently uninsured or underinsured are forced accept inferior plans with large out-of-pocket costs, or are not be able to afford coverage offered by private health insurers. This lack of adequate coverage makes it difficult for people to get the health care they need and can have a particularly serious impact on a person's health and stability.