Introduction
Dr. Atul Gawande wrote a piece for the New Yorker titled “Now What.” It was published just one short month after President Obama signed into law the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and it addresses a few points of consideration surrounding the controversial law, points that have since compounded into intense debates. For anyone who has glanced at a newspaper or navigated the internet between then and now, it’s impossible to miss; the tension created from the passing of the ACA is palpable. Four years later, the ACA remains a hot topic, especially in political circles.
According the ACA’s official website, the law is meant to provide health security to Americans through health insurance reforms (Medicaid.gov, 2014). It attempts to tackle this lofty goal through a number of changes, including:
• Expanding health insurance coverage,
• Fostering accountability of health insurance companies,
• Lowering healthcare costs
• Not only promoting but guaranteeing more health care options, and finally
• Enhancing the quality of care (Medicaid.gov, 2014).
Has the ACA accomplished these goals? And if not, is it on track to do so? Although the subject is open to a broad array of debatable topics, I will consider three.
Is the ACA Simply a Political War?
Allegations between competing news and media services tend to describe the ACA as nothing more than a political war. But are these assessments fair?
In “Now What,” Dr. Gawande compares the ACA’s beginnings to that of
President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act on March 23, 2010. This law puts in place widespread health insurance reforms that expanded out over the last 4 years and continues to change the lives of many Americans today. Health care reform has been an extensively debated topic for multiple years, and the ACA is the first effective attempt at passing a law aiming to make health care not only affordable, but accessible for all individuals. The law impacts many Americans including, children, employers, government programs which includes federal and state, health plans and private insurers, health care coverage, health care cost, and the quality of care received. The main goal of the law is to expand health care coverage, broaden Medicaid eligibility, minimize and regulate health care cost, and improve the health care delivery system. In order to improve the health care delivery there have been new consumer protections established and an increase access to affordable care.
The concept of providing basic healthcare services to individuals in need has undergone an agonizing transition, from a luxury once only afforded by the affluent to a basic human right granted to citizens of every economic station, and the recently enacted Affordable Care Act (ACA) was designed to finalize this ethical evolution. Reflecting perhaps the bitter political enmity currently consuming the nation's once cherished democratic process, Republican legislatures in states throughout the union have bristled at the ACA's primary provisions, threatening all manner of procedural protestation as they attempt to delay and derail the bill's eventual implementation. One of the most intriguing aspects of the sprawling, thousand page law, however, has been the stipulation that individual states will be given a choice to either accept federal funding to expand their statewide Medicaid roster, or to forfeit all federal funding for that program in perpetuity. The role of government in monitoring and regulating the healthcare industry has been long debated, and the bitterly contested passage of President Obama's ACA, a law aimed at revising the country's health insurance system through the creating of a federal health insurance exchange to facilitate increased competition among insurers, has rekindled the debate over who holds the ultimate responsibility for regulating the care provided by hospitals, community clinics, and private practices.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been a topic of dispute since its introduction and continues to be discussed by politicians in the U.S. and throughout the world even after its passage. The Act has many opponents and is the cause of much controversy nationwide, primarily because it introduces higher healthcare costs for the richest citizens. Nevertheless, the ACA is an important stage in the American healthcare development process as it not only allows more people to receive healthcare services, but will also reduce the deficit. However, not everyone agrees. The policy is controversial in terms of cost vs. benefits, but the benefits ultimately outweigh the costs.
The 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the most current governmental effort to bring a national health care plan to the United States (U.S.). Policy makers in the U.S. are hopeful the ACA will be able to extend health care coverage to 47 million nonelderly uninsured citizens (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2014). The ACA broadens the Medicaid eligibility for low income individuals at or below the 138% Federal Poverty Line (FPL) and adds tax credits to assist people to purchase insurance in the Health Insurance Marketplace (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2015). In 2012, the Supreme Court the upheld the constitutionality of the ACA requiring most people to maintain a minimum level of health insurance, however they left the
While the Affordable Care Act was implemented in 2010, the most significant changes in the healthcare system began in 2013 with the expansion of Medicaid. According to the ACA’s official website, the law’s main goals are to create cost efficient health insurance and medical services, as well as expand Medicaid so that the stated programs will be available to more Americans. (“Affordable Care Act (ACA)”). To do so, the ACA imposed many requirements on both sides of the health care system. The ACA has expanded federal regulations on private insurance providers by requiring that these companies cannot deny coverage based on the health of the beneficiary. The ACA has also established a marketplace for health insurance to be purchased by small businesses and individuals. Finally, the most noteworthy reform is the requirement for all Americans to purchase minimum coverage, or pay a penalty. However, those who cannot afford coverage and have “an income below 138% of the Federal Poverty Level eligible for Medicaid” will be paid for by the government (“The Affordable Care Act in the US”).
The Affordable Care Act, in its time, has helped many uninsured Americans to obtain health insurance by giving them guaranteed coverage. About 20 million Americans, based on the statistics from the New York Times’s article titled “Fact Check: Trump’s Critiques of the Affordable Care Act.”, have obtained health insurance through the ACA. Dropping the uninsured rate to 11 percent by 2013 (Qiu 2017). Americans, through the ACA, were able to get health insurance even if they got sick, which inevitably happens to many. This put insurers in a place where they cannot deny coverage to people who have preexisting conditions, or their health history. Other main points that are included in Former President Obama’s Affordable Care Act is that one, it was given as an individual mandate that all U.S. Citizens and legal residents must enroll for qualifying health care or get penalized for not signing up for insurance at all. Making the fact that getting health care is mandatory is a good way to lower the insured rates and save many Americans money when the next unexpected hospital visits or illnesses come up. Another thing is that the ACA has also expanded medicaid to all non-Medicaid eligible individuals that are under the age 65 and making medicaid more federal funded based rather than a state issue. Thus helping those who could not afford
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, was officially signed into legislation in March 2010. The ACA was a major step in achieving a system of universal healthcare, which essentially means all citizens are provided with healthcare and financial protection. In the 1960’s America introduced the Medicare and Medicaid programs, which helped guarantee some type of medical insurance cover for the very poor (Medicaid) and elderly (Medicare). Even though programs like these assisted in covering the most vulnerable groups of people, many Americans still did not have healthcare insurance. The goal of the ACA reform is to ensure that all Americans are covered by some form of health insurance. The ACA promises healthcare access to
Affordable Care Act (ACA), often known as Obamacare, was signed by President Obama in 2010. The goal of the Act is to increase the number of individuals with health insurance to the point where all Americans are insured by providing quality healthcare at an affordable price. Despite its good intent, the ACA is not as perfect as it may appear. In this paper, I will list the main features of the Act, its pros and cons, and how it affects you as an individual and discuss the King vs. Burwell lawsuit.
The Affordable Care Act or ACA is a federal statute initiated by President Barack Obama, its intended effects were to supply medical coverage at a low cost to millions of Americans who could not afford access to healthcare. There are a variety of economic and scholarly opinions regarding the ACA’s effect on the healthcare market. Many of these viewpoints have changed over the course of Obama’s presidency as the statute began to affect individuals and the healthcare market.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as ObamaCare, is a United States law that was signed by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010 and upheld by the Supreme Court on June 28, 2012. This Act was set to reform both healthcare and health insurance industries in the United States. It aims to lower cost on coverage, add new benefits, and a few new taxes. Increasing the quality, availability, and affordability of private and public health insurance are very important roles of the ACA. While trying to help over 44 million uninsured Americans, it is changing taxes, mandates, subsidies, and adding new regulations. The law is trying to slow the growth of healthcare spending and cost, which has been rising at an unsustainable rate. The Affordable Care Act has added many new laws and regulation, but how much has it helped and how will it be changed after the presidential election?
The Affordable Care Act is one of America’s many insurance plans to attempt to lower costs and provide a wider coverage for citizens all over the country. It is a widely controversial topic in America; especially within the past year. Although there are some people out there who support it, there are also those who base their campaigns on getting it repealed; Donald Trump is a prime example of this. When instituting this policy, Obama had very good intentions, but he was far from fulfilling his intended purpose. Today, the ACA has many flaws that affect Americans both as a whole and individually. Obamacare has raised costs for individuals, contributed even more money to America’s debt, is the complete opposite of what President Obama said it would be, it takes away civil liberties, and puts new standards on patients.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), also referred to as the "Affordable Care Act" or "ACA" or "Obama Care") is the major health care reform bill passed into law on March 23, 2010. The debates surrounding the PPACA have been volatile at times, and continue to be the most intense public examinations of any piece of legislation in our recent history. The affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is ripe for repeal. For the American public, there are ample reasons for dissatisfaction: higher costs; arbitrary and sometimes absurd rule-making; bureaucratization of an already overly bureaucratized sector of the economy; incompatibility with personal freedom and religious liberty; enormous spending and heavy taxation; and widely acknowledged design flaws, evident in the ACA’s hopelessly complex and unworkable subsidy schemes, boondoggle bailouts, and collapsing co-ops. Nonetheless, other ACA legal challenges were still facing the healthcare law. In December 2015, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court arguing against the constitutionality of the employer insurance mandate within the Affordable Care Act. The law contains a number of experiments designed to drive down health costs, such as Accountable Care Organizations. The whole idea is to move the system away from paying for volume and toward paying for value. We still don't know whether that will happen. But it's fair to say that reducing the cost of health care will make it easier to expand coverage. The nation’s gains in health care coverage and delivery system design over the last several years have made measurable differences in the lives of millions of Americans. There are many ways to achieve a high-performing health system. But it’s critical that the nation remain committed to this goal.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) set out to radically change the American health care system, bringing coverage to Americans who would otherwise be disqualified for several reasons whether it be loss of coverage from employer, parents or pre-existing health conditions. The second major initiative is strengthening Medicare with emphasizing resources and coverage for preventive health care. All feeding into the umbrella
The goal of the ACA is not only to curb health care costs. It also looks to improve a health care demander’s experience and outcomes. The ACA does this particularly for those individuals who participate in the Medicare, Medicaid programs and insurance plans offered through the health care exchange.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law on March 23rd, 2010 by President Barack Obama. This radical health care law was a much-needed step in comprehensive health insurance reform. Three important features of the Affordable Care Act are 1. Improving quality and lowering health care costs 2. New consumer protections and 3. Increased access to healthcare. (Key Features. 2014). Under the umbrella of these three key features additional benefits include free preventive care, drug discounts for senior citizens, increased protection against health care fraud, small business tax credits, increased access to health care through the health insurance marketplace, consumer assistance, and non-discrimination based on pre-existing conditions.