Life, Liberty, and Happiness

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These are the three rights granted to every American, however, this did not seem to apply to the poor during the Gilded Age. The poor lacked opportunities to climb the ladder of social class to escape poverty, and the wealth of America was so concentrated in an individual few that one man, J.P. Morgan, was able to end the Financial Panic of 1893, preventing an economic depression. The rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer. The disparity between the wealthy and those facing poverty was ever growing, which makes one question, what should be done, if anything at all? This was a major problem during the time and was the topic of many debates. Figures like William Graham Sumner,

The Affordable Care Act includes changes to Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, and creates many conflicts and benefits around how it will affect health care in the future. Clearly, all items within the medical reform are connected, so that a positive impact in one area may inversely affect another. The primary change is the extension of health care coverage to the uninsured, but it comes with a cost. Costs include penalties, taxes, reduced medical access, and lower reimbursement rates for physicians and hospitals. The Affordable Care Act is conceived with a good purpose; as a result, everyone will now have access to affordable health care, although, “affordable” is not yet well defined. Health care providers will be able to continue their vocation of providing good care for our society, but in some cases, changes to insurance may still have a poor outcome.

The Affordable Care Act otherwise known as Obamacare or the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was signed into law in March 2010 and it has not been without its share of problems, debates and controversies. One of the main points of the debates and controversies with the PPACA has been the legality of the individual mandate. The individual mandate “requires that most Americans obtain and maintain health insurance, or an exemption, each month or pay a tax penalty” . The whole purpose of creating PPACA was to “achieve near-universal coverage and to do so through shared responsibility among government, individuals, and employers” and to be able to “improve the fairness, quality, and affordability of health insurance coverage” also to be able to “improve health-care value, quality, and efficiency while reducing wasteful spending and making the health-care system more accountable to a diverse patient population” .Those were the top three goals that were the foundation when drawing up the policies for The Affordable Care Act to develop what was hoped to be universal healthcare system for the citizens of the United States. While The Affordable Care Act does have its benefits, such as it would cover pre-existing conditions where most private insurances do not do, more people have the ability to get what they call affordable medical insurance, costs of prescriptions are lower and it even offers tax credits for those that purchase the insurance but it also

“Obamacare”, also official known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or the Affordable Care Act for short was first approved on March 23, 2010. The Obamacare Act would guarantee to help Americans be able to get ahold of a fair, low-cost quality health insurance and reduce American’s spending on their health issues. Even with such a great plan, there were many flaws and hesitance that went towards enforcing this new health care plan. However, Obamacare has tremendously enhanced opportunities in order to receive healthcare for a vast number of Americans, despite its complications.

According to David Nather’s The New Health Care System: Everything You Need to Know, in 2009, 8% of premiums went to cover the uninsured (pg.38). To alleviate that problem, the Affordable Care Act created the individual mandate, which requires everyone to get health insurance. The idea is that the mandate will force healthy people to get insurance, which will then subsidize the sick and the old. If people do not get insurance, then they will pay a fine to the government. If you cannot afford health insurance then you can apply for an exemption. The new decree does not allow insurance companies to deny coverage and they cannot charge you more if you are sick. The law

On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Healthcare Act into law. It had been estimated that 30 million people would sign up for the new healthcare act. As of April 15, 2015 the actual number of people that have signed up is 11,776,046 which is a far cry from what was predicted. Within the healthcare system all across the United States things are changing. How will the Affordable Healthcare Act impact the healthcare system within the United States? This paper will address what the Affordable Healthcare Act is first and then

The Course of human events has once again arrived at a time when consideration must be given by the people to dissolving the political bonds connecting them with another, and to again assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Natural Laws entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that the people should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

‘Over 105 million people living in America today no longer have to worry about having their health benefits cut off’ (Secretary WH) . Since enacted, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been able to provide for millions of lower and middle class Americans a secure and reasonable healthcare plan that best suits their medical needs. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) also commonly refer to as ‘Obamacare’ was a solution implemented in 2010 to help reform the precarious healthcare system in the United States. The ACA imposed three key reforms adopted from the successful Massachusetts system of healthcare. First, the ACA established a “guaranteed issue and community rating requirements” which essential barred healthcare insurances

The US healthcare system is currently undergoing what is arguably its biggest change since its enactment in 1935 with the Social Security Act. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law on March 23, 2010 by President Barack Obama in an attempt to bring cost free preventative care to all American citizens. And while this may sound like good news since it will help take care of the 54 million Americans that were uninsured in 2010 when this Act was signed (Kocher 2010) not all of these changes to the healthcare system are beneficial. Many citizens will find themselves penalized by the fees and requirements of the ACA, along with many others

For the past several months, the news feeds have been full of stories on Obamacare, more accurately described as The Affordable Care Act. The Affordable Care Act is the largest mandated healthcare change in the United States since Medicare and Medicaid began in 1965 (Mayer, 2013). It was signed into Law in 2010 designed to give all Americans access to healthcare. Whether you are for or against The Affordable Care Act one thing is above dispute, it has caused a Nationwide uproar. Now that we are in a new Presidential era, steps are being taken to “Repeal and Replace” Obamacare.

Many conservative advocacy groups have been in opposition to the PPACA since it was signed into law. Most of them are against the idea of universal healthcare. Then there are others like the Republican Party and the Tea Party movement who believe that “the law will lead to disruption of existing healthcare plans, it will increase costs as well as the federal deficit itself (as I mentioned earlier with the Heritage Foundation study). (Cohn, 2013).

There are Currently 32 million people without health insurance in the United States. This means that roughly 83 per cent of citizens have to live day by day hoping they won’t get sick. For this reason, President Obama signed the U.S health reform bill into law. The health reform will make health care more affordable for citizens. Employers with more than 50 employees will be forced to provide coverage for all, or they will have to pay a fine. It will also make health insures more responsible. For example, health insurance carriers are forbidden from placing lifetime dollar limits on policies, from denying coverage to children because of pre-existing conditions, and from canceling policies because someone gets sick. It will also expand

The Benefits of the Affordable Care Act to Our People and Our Health Care System

U.S. health care reform is currently one of the most heavily discussed topics in health discourse and politics. After former President Clinton’s failed attempt at health care reform in the mid-1990s, the Bush administration showed no serious efforts at achieving universal health coverage for the millions of uninsured Americans. With Barack Obama as the current U.S. President, health care reform is once again a top priority. President Obama has made a promise to “provide affordable, comprehensive, and portable health coverage for all Americans…” by the end of his first term (Barackobama.com). The heated debate between the two major political parties over health care reform revolves around how to pay for it and more importantly, whether it

“Behind this mask there is more than just flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea... and ideas are bulletproof.”-V (1988). An inspiring and truthful quote on the sheer immorality of a mindset and ideals. While this quote is meant to speak for the good and righteous things humans stand for to protect their liberties and “freedoms”, this quote brings to light a sad and dark truth. That creeds of hate, creeds that are only satisfied by the degradation of thy neighbor and implosion of any societal progress humanity has made since The Emancipation Proclamation outlawed slavery in the US in 1865, will never be destroyed or ever truly broken down. These criminal unnatural acts against humanity, performed by both notorious hate groups and everyday citizens, have been tearing at the moral and social fiber of this once proud nation for years. If the federal government does not intervene and take a far more aggressive stance against these crimes and misdeeds, then these vile acts will diminish any hope left for social redemption into idealistic dust.