The Affordable Health Care Act

Critically analyze the implications of the state’s decision to opt out of Medicaid expansion on the citizens of the state.

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.

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.

Texas, which currently has a large uninsured population and limited Medicaid eligibility, forfeits billions of dollars from the federal government every year by not expanding its Medicaid program as implemented in the Affordable Care Act. In contrast, Medicaid expansion could benefit the state exponentially and give its citizens the fullest potential of what this country offers. A substantial amount of federal funding that could increase uninsured coverage, improve healthcare costs, and provide economic stimulus is left on the table. Additionally, the nation benefits when each state participates, contributing to the success of the healthcare reform.

One of the main components that had given the Affordable Care Act issues with the uninsured rate in the United States is the growth of the Medicaid program. The Affordable Care Act granted all 50 states billions of dollars in federal financial aid to increase their Medicaid program to insure people who made up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Starting at the beginning of 2016, the federal government reduced its federal aid, covering less than 10 percent of what was promised, which ended up putting more of the responsibility of insuring Medicaid qualified Americans on the states. This caused a fallout of state governors being against ObamaCare, resulting with having 21 states declining any federal funding or expands their

Why is Medicaid a huge topic in Texas and how does it relate to me? This is one important question to consider. Well this paper will help shed light to the matter and illustrate the urgency for action. Just recently Texas had an option to extend Medicaid, but hastily denied. Medicaid Expansion was part of the Obama care reform in which the federal government gave the 52 states an offer to expand the current Medicaid in was that it would include the coverage of low income adults not only children. The latest on the issue is Texas had agreed on a deal but only temporarily. The agreement on the reform has given Texas some light, but not enough to reach through the other side of the tunnel. Eventually, Texas

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) was designed to make medical insurance coverage affordable for all American citizens. Provisions were established to make certain uninsured individuals and no or low-income households can qualify for Medicaid or coverage through one of the health insurance marketplace exchange. North Carolina is viewed as an example of the impact the ACA would have on the nation. North Carolina is one of the states that chose not to expand Medicaid (Holmes, 2013). In this paper, I will explain my analysis of the impact of the ACA on North Carolina’s adolescent and young adult, working, non-working, and childless adult population.

There have been a few proposed changes to Medicaid Expansion in Florida and other states. These proposed changes have included 1915 and 1115 waivers, including long-term care programs. Florida has an uninsured rate of 20 percent (Rose, 2015). This represents a great need for insurance coverage expansion and cost savings in Florida. Previous proposed changes have been successful in some aspects, but do not answer all of these elements.

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.

Texas has the largest uninsured population with an estimated 6.2 million uninsured citizens within its stateliness, approximately a quarter of the statewide population (Rapoport, 2012). In 2012, then governor, Rick Perry decided that Texas would not expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This decision led to much debate over whether or not Perry made the right decision to leave upwards of a million Texans, who did not receive insurance subsidies and did not qualify for Medicaid, uninsured. These Texans fell under what many politicians refer to as the “coverage gap.” Texas decided not to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act because of the effects it would have on hospitals, financial reasons, and increased number of

In 2010 the American government passed new health care legislation, called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), in order to reform the United States health care system. This health care reform opens the door for some Americans who have never been eligible for affordable health care insurance to obtain it beginning in 2014 (Sparer, 2011). All the states will enact this legislation but some will limit the provision provided to their citizens (Kaiser Commission, 2013). North Carolina is one of the states that have chosen not to enact all of the ACA’s provisions (Kaiser Commission, 2013). In this paper, I will look at health care

Looking at the different readings which analyzed and discussed the different ways that states are handling the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, it seems that each state has their own unique prospective on the expansion, dependent on the political leanings and wealth of the state. For example, one of the article describes Kentucky opting to traditional Medicaid, while Arkansas opted to buy coverage for the poor through the federal marketplace. The states that have limited the expansion of Medicaid seems to be typically Republican states, which obviously has an issue with not only the costs associated with the expansion but also the ideological issues that seems to be in conflict with

Florida has historically had one of the highest uninsured rates in the country (Born 2017). Despite the fact that Florida has not expanded its Medicaid program, Floridians have gained insurance coverage at greater rates than many other states. One estimate is that prior to the enactment of the ACA, approximately 21% of Florida residents lacked health insurance, and this has dropped to 13% after the ACA took effect. (Williams, 2016). Other estimates have suggested a smaller decrease of 20% to 15% (Born, 2017). Florida experienced the highest enrollment in ACA plans of any state with 1.5 million enrollees in 2016 (Williams, 2016). Increased health insurance coverage appears to have translated to increased access to medical care. Shortly

Healthcare is an industry that encounters numerous challenges such as cost and a myriad of uninsured individuals throughout the country. In 2010 the Affordable Care Act was executed as a means to provide the uninsured the opportunity to obtain health insurance. While a vast number of the states were on board with expanding their Medicaid coverage, there were some who opt to participate. The state of Georgia declines to broaden the program, although there are approximately 700,000 people without medical insurance. The state is facing a challenging decision since expanding Medicaid will consume an enormous portion of the state budget. Undeniable Georgia would prefer not to provide coverage to those who are not able to acquire coverage by

Due to a recent ruling by the Supreme Court on Obama care, states can opt out of the Medicaid Expansion which would leave millions of poor working class Americans without coverage. The states that opt out of the Medicaid Expansion would further drive up the cost of health insurance, without experiencing any real financial gain for the state, whereas the states could use grants-in-aid to help defray the cost of the Medicaid Expansion.