Issues And Trends: The Affordable Care Act (ACA)

Data shows that there are more Americans covered now that there were before. However, having insurance coverage is not the same as having access to healthcare. Since the implementation of the ACA, healthcare has become more expensive and most individuals would not consider their healthcare to be affordable. The cost of running and implementing the program was passed on to healthcare providers through payment cuts. Another unintended consequence was that many employers, under the financial burden of the ACA, reduced the hours of employees that may have previously been given employer-sponsored benefits and therefore forced them into the insurance exchange. Also, insurance companies are dropping out of the insurance exchange every year. The risk pool in the exchange is not what it was expected to be by the government. The penalties for not buying insurance have not been stiff enough to incent young healthy patients to purchase a plan and as such the insured pool is mostly those that really need the coverage and are filing

With every new election comes new legislature the 2008 election had to deal with the hot new topic the Affordable Health Care Act (ACA). Then when Barack Obama was elected into office, he wanted it to be changed to Obamacare. Obamacare and the ACA is relatively the same thing. It is referred to as Obamacare because he is the one who signed for it to be passed. Due to the stress that Obamacare has put on the elderly, state businesses and small local business’s think that the United States should discontinue Obamacare during the next administration.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) extended healthcare coverage to millions of formerly uninsured individuals by expanding eligibility of Medicaid and the formation of Health Insurance Marketplaces. The ACA also included reforms to assist individuals sustain coverage and have the availability of affordable and accessible private healthcare insurance. Analysis from 2014 and early 2015 and have shown significant increases in public and private healthcare insurance coverage and have attributed the remarkable decreases of the rates of uninsured individuals from marketplace.gov and health insurance exchanges from the first year the ACA had healthcare coverage available.

The affordable care act truly contains over a thousand pages of reforms to the insurance and health care industries in order to combat rising health care costs that are manifesting all around the country. Throughout the developing statistics pertaining to the American that did not receive health care insurance, it was stated that as of 2013 there were close to around 44 million Americans who went without health insurance, this can be a little less than sixteen percent of the United States population (Cite). So let’s take a look at the majority of those individuals that are unisured, they

The Affordable Care Act is the new health reform law that was signed into action on March 23, 2010. The Affordable Care Act attempts to reform the healthcare system by providing Americans with affordable health insurance. It helps put individuals, businesses, and families in control of their own healthcare. By the sound of it, it really looks like this is something that will positively impact the lives of Americans, and make it easier for individuals to obtain health insurance. Unfortunately, what many Americans are unaware of is that there are so many underlying issues that make the Affordable Care Act not so affordable. Issues such as penalties and taxes that certainly rack up the cost on individuals, businesses and even hospitals that make it difficult for people and businesses to be in “control” of their health care.

Despite the responsibility of healthcare being a power of the states, the national government created a market for privately owned businesses to provide insurance under an umbrella known as “Obamacare”. Obamacare was primarily comprised of the Affordable Care Act, or AFA. The Affordable Care Act, created by the Obama Administration, was passed in March 2010 under the premise that healthcare should be more available to American citizens. These target citizens being the over 50 million who were uninsured for various reasons before the passing of this legislation. They were able to do this by expanding the affordability through various regulations, taxes, subsidies, and other

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the most significant health care legislation reform in the United States since the passing of Medicare and Medicaid (Russell Sage Foundation, n.d.). Changes in healthcare delivery affect consumers, insurance companies, healthcare providers, and policy makers. Several factors provoked this monumental change in health care. Social, political, and economic forces drive change in the United States healthcare system. Within these categories, scarcity, a changing demography, and interests groups have a profound influence on how we view health care and which policies are enacted.

The Affordable Care Act (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), commonly called "Obamacare," is a federal statute that was signed into law in March of 2010 (PDF, n.d.; Van de Water, 2011). It basically requires the vast majority of people in the United States who do not have insurance coverage to acquire that coverage or face penalties. People who already have insurance through their employers or on their own will not be asked to change companies. Additionally, anyone who is on federally-funded insurance such as Medicaid or Medicare and still qualifies for those programs will not be removed from their insurance. They will still be covered and protected. In order to find out more about the Act and really understand its main points and principles, however, it is very important to be aware of how it became a law and any changes that have taken place to it from its inception all the way through where it is today. Only then can a person have a clear understanding of the Act and form an opinion as to the value it may (or may not) provide to the American public. There is still much speculation and a great deal of misunderstanding about the Act and what it involves.

The Affordable Healthcare Act is has improved our health care system in many ways. One of the most obvious improvements is in America today we have more people with healthcare coverage than ever before. Per the video we have 90% of Americans have health care today, which is an increase in 20 million Americans with health insurance. Per Health and Humana services (March 2016). That part of this increase can be contributed to ACA many changes. One change in particular is allowing young adults under the age of 26 to stay on their parent’s health insurance plans. This change alone enabled 2.3 million young adults to now have affordable insurance though their parents. This change resulted in reduction of 46.5% of young adults from 2013 to 2016. In addition, Health and Humana Services statists point out that the uninsured rate for Blacks dropped more than 50% which equals 3 million black Americans now have health coverage. Health and Humana service also noted that with the Hispanic population there was also an increase of 4 million Hispanic adults obtaining coverage and an increase of 8.9 white adults obtaining health care coverage. In addition to the increased numbers of Americans obtaining insurance those who utilized their health insurance also experienced that additional preventative health service were now covered at 100% and would not go towards one’s deductible, thus forcing and individual to pay out of pocket for said services. One item that I have benefited from is

The most apparent benefit of the Affordable Health Care act is that it makes health insurance obtainable to the uninsured (low and middle income bracket) via healthcare market places; or healthcare exchanges (“Obama Care Summary”). Also, this because of this law, 44 million people who do not have coverage are projected to be covered (“Obama Care Summary”).

Uncontrollable skyrocketing health care costs not only effect our economy but every American pocket book. The Obamacare Act was the most important healthcare reform enacted since Medicare/Medicaid was created in 1965 (Jama, 2016). The Affordable Care Act has made a substantial progress in solving the challenges U.S healthcare faced for decades. The uninsured rate was dropped from 16.0% in 2010 to 9.0% in 2015 (Jama, 2016). Not only has the ACA delivered an access to quality

Recently, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) celebrated six years since the law’s passage. During that time, there have been many debates and slow changes to the United States healthcare system. One area that has been debated is in regards to employer-based health insurance along with the advantages and disadvantages in providing this type of coverage. Since there is more information about the expansion of health insurance options and how the exchange sponsored insurance plans are functioning, the discussion on if employer-based health insurance is beneficial or detrimental will be examined.

I feel heath care reform was necessary, health care costs affect the economy, the federal budget, and virtually every American’s family’s financial well-being. According to Obama, “In 2008, the United States devoted 16% of the economy to health care, an increase of almost one-quarter since 1998 (when 13% of the economy was spent on health care), yet much of that spending did not translate into better outcomes for patients” (Obama, 2016, p.526). In 2008, 1 in 7 Americans did not have health insurance (Obama, 2016). Clearly something was wrong with the health care system in the United States. The United States spends more than twice as much on health care per person as other developed countries (Teitelbaum & Wilensky, 2015). If you worked for a company that did not provide health insurance, most people went without and used Emergency Rooms for primary care. I live in Massachusetts. Massachusetts was the only state in the country to require anyone over the age of 18 to have health insurance. If you didn’t, you were penalized with a monetary fine. There are many benefits to mandated Health Insurance. One benefit is if you become sick, you don’t have to worry about going bankrupt getting care. Secondly, the cost of health care will come down and finally the federal deficit will come down. The Affordable Care Act seems to be working. According to Obama “The Affordable Care Act had made significant progress toward solving

President Obama enacted the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in March 2010, in an effort to address the growing number of uninsured Americans. The Affordable Care Act would extend health coverage to millions of uninsured Americans and banned insurers from denying coverage to individuals with preexisting illnesses. The legislation extended coverage to an estimated 32 million of the nation’s 45 million uninsured people by expanding Medicaid, providing subsides to help low and middle income families purchase insurance, and through the creation of regulated insurance markets where people without insurance can purchase subsidized coverage.

The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), popularly known as “Obamacare”, has drastically altered healthcare in America. The goal of this act was to give Americans access to affordable, high quality insurance while simultaneously decreasing overall healthcare spending. The ACA had intended to maximize health care coverage throughout the United States, but this lofty ambition resulted in staggeringly huge financial and human costs.