Essay On Health Care Reform

Large populations of Americans are uninsured mainly because of the high cost of insurance. Majority of the uninsured are the low-income working families’. The adults represent a higher percentage of the uninsured than children. Before the law, you could be denied coverage or treatment because you had been sick in the past, be dropped mid-treatment for making a simple mistake on your application, hence, the Affordable Care Act was implemented into law on March 23, 2010 by President Barrack Obama to make sure that every American irrespective of their status will be insured and have full access to proper health care benefits, rights and protection(1). To understand the

On March 23, 2010, the Affordable care act also known as “obamacare” was signed into law by president Barrack Obama. Only gay marriage legislations and gun laws have elicited more public response than the affordable care act. Both opponents and proponents have presented constructive arguments of the perceived failures and strengths of the act. Owing to the intense debate surrounding the act, very few people understand that the act only came into full implementation in 2014. The raving reviews and critiques of the debate have bordered on myths and perception influenced by political alignments. Pertinent questions have been asked about the affordable care act. There have been conflicting accounts on the role of the affordable care act in regulating the health insurance industry. Concerns have been raised on why patients are paying higher out of pocket expenses yet the affordable care act was meant to introduce checks and balance in healthcare provisions. This paper therefore seeks to deeply explore the affordable care act by researching on these questions. The paper will also demonstrate perspectives on the good and the bad that comes from the affordable care act. Lastly, the paper will analyze healthcare situation in New York City with statistics showing that healthcare services are becoming more expensive in the city even after the full implementation of the affordable care act.

The goal of this paper is to explain the downfalls of Obamacare and share the stories of individuals affected negatively and directly by the approval of the policy. Although Obamacare set out with good intentions, many people are still left without health care coverage because of the constant revisions of the bill. There have been many taxes raised for the approval of this policy, and has caused problems for individuals who do not want coverage under Obamacare but would want coverage under a different company. Obamacare has helped some, but has caused other problems that would make it a bill that should be up for repeal.

In March 2010, one of the most controversial bills in modern history was signed into law by President Barack Obama. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act expanded the 1965 bill passed under President Johnson that created Medicare and Medicaid (“LBJ Presidential Library,” 2015). While the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare” as it has been dubbed by the media, has many components, the focus here is the expansion of Medicaid. Obamacare sought to expand Medicaid to cover those who earn too much to qualify for traditional Medicaid, but not enough to afford employer-provided health care. These people are said to be in the “coverage gap” (“Obamacare Medicaid expansion,” 2015). While only 32 states have adopted Obamacare, we should advance a policy encouraging the remaining states to expand existing coverage by extending the period of federal government cost-sharing an additional five years. Doing so would give states previously refusing the cost sharing a second chance to opt-in. This expansion would save money for the states from some of the rising cost of healthcare, and fulfill our moral duty to care for uninsured Americans.

Health insurance is one of the most important benefits a citizen can have in America. Some Americans who work acquire health insurance through their employers. But then, there are Americas who do not work and therefore, are unable to have health insurance. The Affordable Care Act was signed into law on March 23, 2010 by President Obama and the United States Congress, (North Carolina’s Institute of Medicine, 2012). This paper will focus on the impact of the

In 2008, during President Obama’s campaign, President Obama announced that he would fight for a national health care system that helped millions of uninsured Americans obtain health insurance. The Affordable Care Act, also termed Obamacare, passed on Christmas Eve of 2009. While some people believe the Affordable Care Act is great, others are not too fond of the of it. From passing the bill, the government hoped to expand Medicaid eligibility to help more people whose income was meager or near poverty level. Although the idea was good, studies show that people of color, families in rural areas, and those with cultural and language barriers struggle to receive health care and pay for it. Furthermore, since Obamacare passed into law, the

Dr. Donald A. Barr in Introduction to US Health Policy discusses the different methods in which states attempt to expand health care coverage throughout his book. In chapter eight, The Uninsured, Barr focusses on one such successful expansion. Massachusetts increases the number of people insured in their state through individual mandate, a term used to describe when a government requires individuals to obtain health care (240). After the success of Massachusetts, the federal government attempted a similar system through a policy called the Affordable Care Act (ACA). How does the ACA compare to the Massachusetts’s policy? Though the ACA was made to reflect the Massachusetts’s individual mandate policy, they also have some key differences.

Through successful implementation millions of Americans would benefit from the imposition of health insurance through the ACA. The law intended to cover the poorest Americans under the Medicaid expansion option and to cover low and middle-income earners with new health insurance exchanges. However, in June 2012, the Supreme Court overruled a portion of this landmark victory by giving each state the option to forego the Medicaid expansion provision. The Court’s ruling creates a breach in the ACA’s potential to afford healthcare to the working poor and abandons those who do not quite qualify for market place subsidies. Consequently, a large segment of the United States population will remain uninsured due to the lack of affordability.

Reducing the number of uninsured Americans: Nationwide, since the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansion began, about

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare, was authoritatively marked into law on March 23, 2010. It was created to make healthcare lower-priced and effectively available to a more extensive scope of Americans. Under the law, individuals in the United States who do not meet all requirements for an exemption are obligated to acquire a minimum amount of healthcare coverage.

In other countries, universal health care has been proven successful. For decades, our health care system was in dire need of some kind of change because it has been hurdling toward a crisis. Everyone needs to have some kind of health insurance but it was almost impossible because of the prices skyrocketing and wages haven’t changed but maybe a few cents here and there. Even though the health reform will take years to be fully implemented, it has already helped millions of people access the health care that they need. The uninsured are less likely to receive preventive care and are often diagnosed with disease in more advanced stages which result in a higher risk of dying prematurely than individuals with health care insurance. They would probably

This paper focuses on analyzing the Massachusetts health care system. Specifically it addresses how the 2006 health care reform law sought to increase health insurance coverage for the uninsured, underinsured, children, young adults, and low income residents. Its desire was for universal coverage for all its residents, and that it would be both reasonably priced and of value. The Law addressed need to decrease the barriers to health care, such as racial disparities, and overall health care costs while increasing access to provider, utilization of services, with a focus on quality care. This paper will exam how the Massachusetts health reform addressed these health care issues.

In an article published by The Atlantic, the main topic being discussed is the Republican Party’s inability to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The political actors involved in the repeal of Obamacare are the Republicans who are wanting to repeal the act, the Democratic party who is fighting the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, as well as President Trump and GOP leaders who are trying to influence votes. The Republican Party was faced with difficulty gaining numbers in support for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. This is shocking considering that the Republican party was “Handed unified control of the federal government for only the third time since World War II” (Berman 2017). This statement alone shows the overwhelming

This paper focuses on analyzing the Massachusetts health care system. Specifically it addresses how the 2006 health care reform law sought to provide health insurance coverage for the uninsured, underinsured, children, young adults, and low income residents. In addition it diminished the demand side rationing that was occurring in Massachusetts. Its desire was for universal coverage, and would be both reasonably priced and of intrinsic value. The law addressed the need to decrease barriers to health care, such as racial disparities, and overall health care costs while increasing access to provider, and utilization of services. It was to focus on quality care. This paper will exam how the Massachusetts health reform addressed these

Health care reform is not a new concept in fact it has a long history in this country and has been on many political platforms. In 1948 Harry Truman had national health insurance on his campaign platform as part of the new deal but it never came to fruition due to democratic opposition and socialist fears (Christiansen, 2012). In 1965 president Johnson did have some success with signing Medicare and Medicaid into the social security act as well as President Nixon with the Health Maintenance Organization Act (Christiansen, 2012). In the years following many other presidents have tried with little success to fill the gaps in health care coverage. Under President Reagan’s administration the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act attempted to help with prescription drug coverage only to be repealed in 1989. President Clinton also tried for insurance reforms but he could not gain enough support for his plans. In 2003 President Bush was finally able to sign in the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act so that after 38 years seniors on the Medicare program would finally have prescription benefits (Thomas, Lee, & Lipton, 2004). Moving forward again to 2009 a bill was introduced and then signed by President Obama in 2010 is what is now known as the Affordable Health Care Act. It has been met with both praise and criticism.