The Purpose Of The Individual Mandate

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

In order to make insurance affordable to all there were extensive private health insurance regulatory reforms, particularly in the small group and non-group markets, there were tax credits offered to the smallest lowest-wage employers for the purchase of health insurance, there were reductions in cost-sharing associated with recommended preventive care. For example if you signed up with a fitness center you can get a 50% discount on your insurance. The market exchange was established for the purchase of private coverage plus subsidies for the individual purchase of coverage and for the cost-sharing of the modest income. “The affordable care act also expanded the eligibility for the Medicaid program to all non-elderly with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level ($23,000 to $32,000 for a family of four in 2012) starting in 2014, which helped phase out the Medicare prescription drug benefit coverage gap, a.k.a. the “doughnut hole”.” To make sure that everyone is complying with the rule of everyone needs to have healthcare coverage there was a penalty set up for those that failed to comply. The penalty was if you did not have insurance by the set date you will receive a tax penalty that you will have to pay when filling your taxes. There are financial requirements that large- and medium sized

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

The provision I am choosing is the Requirement to buy Insurance and the costs . Everyone does need some type of affordable health care coverage and now a law has been implemented that requires individuals to buy some type of coverage. Health care coverage can be obtained through your employer or through an Insurance exchange that can be affordable for everyone however, if you choose not to buy health coverage or even cannot afford it you have to pay a penalty on your taxes.

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

The idea of passing the health care reform was to expand health care coverage, however, in order to do so, many changes must be implemented in order to fulfill the ACA 's promises. The first of which is allowing all individuals to acquire health insurance no matter the age, pre-existing conditions, or other unfair practices. Statistics show that “half of Americas” have a preexisting medical condition in which with the passage of the ACA, it allows individuals to acquire health insurance without the worry of having to pay high insurance bills (Moisse, 2011). The reason why having preexisting health conditions is no longer a factor in acquiring health insurance is because with the passage of the ACA (as discussed earlier, it was made a mandate to acquire health insurance) it is expected that it will balance out economically with the people who require more medical help to their healthier counterparts that do not require as much medical attention (Goodnough, 2016).

Understanding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) can be problematic, the goal of the ACA is to address the fact that millions of Americans do not have health insurance, yet they are contributors to the health care market, consuming health care services for which they do not pay. While this may seem to be a great idea, many Americans are not really sure how they are affected by this Health Care Reform. The goal is to make health insurance affordable, secure, and reliable for all. The ACA is a minimum coverage provision, individuals are given health insurance by amending the tax code. There is an individual mandate which stipulates all non-exempt individuals must maintain a minimum level of insurance or pay a tax penalty. ACA extends Medicaid, states have to accept or they will not receive Federal funding. The act also includes an employer mandate to obtain health coverage for employees. The Affordable Care Act has changed the way health care is provided and the way individuals will participate (The Affordable Care Act Cases. (n.d.). Retrieved September 3, 2015)

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

Since the law was signed in 2010, the Affordable Care Act is a working progress, it continues to changes to help improve individual’s needs. When the Marketplace, first launch there were some technical difficulties. The marketplace website was created so consumers can shop for affordable insurances that meets their needs. Now, despite some of the difficulties and the negativity from the media, the Affordable Care Act has many constructive effects. Obama care created the patient’s bill of rights. What many Americans fail to realize is, why many individuals were without health insurance. Before the law was created, insurances were more like a business. They would drop people without notice, raise premiums rates, or simply deny

The implementation of the individual mandate on health care gives the United States federal government unlimited powers. The policy is obviously unconstitutional, and it shows that the Supreme Court ignored the facts and allowed the government to misinterpret constitutional powers. The individual mandate allows Congress to use legislative powers that are not given to them in Article l of the Constitution.

The ACA also introduced certain incentives for applying for insurance such as subsidies as well as mandates that penalized those who refused health insurance with a tax. However, for those individuals who would see at least 8% of their income go towards insurance, are exempt from the penalty. The law requires insurance providers to accept any applicants and prohibits discrimination from preexisting conditions or sex. It also requires that insurers provide all patients with ten essential health benefits. Provisions also prevent insurers from subjecting preventive care and vaccinations and to co-payments. Annual and lifetime coverage caps on the aforementioned essential benefits were also banned by the ACA. The Centre for Disease Control reported a steep drop from 16% to 8.9% in individuals lacking health insurance from 2010 to 2016. States that chose to expand Medicaid had roughly a 7% uninsured rate compared to those that did not expand. Despite the positive effect of the ACA, it is not without its demerits, Conservatives in particular took offense at the increase in both taxes and insurance premiums needed to expand coverage to those with prior conditions as well as benefits. Several new taxes help provide funding for Obamacare such as those on pharmaceutical sales, as well as the higher income bracket. Thus there is opposition with the fact that the wealthy are in part subsidizing insurance for the poor.

The Affordable Care Act is considered one of the most important legislations related to health care reform to ever been enacted in the history of the United States (Cannan, 2013). The ACA was developed in order to give consumers control of their health care and to provide them with a means of power. The intention was for Americans to have stability and flexibility when it came to making personal healthcare decisions. Many citizens have been able to opportunity obtain affordable healthcare coverage with this reform that they did not have before. Programs have been developed to assist those with pre-existing conditions that may have previously been unable to obtain coverage. Options for young adults under the age of 30 who may not have had coverage have been developed under other health coverage program enacted. The Affordable Care Act has also offered protection for those that received arbitrary withdrawals of insurance coverage. Many Americans have chosen to opt out of healthcare coverage altogether in the past, but this is no longer an option without a penalty. There is a fine that is required to be paid when filing annual income taxes. Unfortunately, some Americans are uninsured and do not have the means to pay for health insurance, and are forced to pay the fine. This has been a growing issue in America as many families cannot afford much more beyond the daily necessities. Therefore, any serious injury or illness can quickly diminish any savings or cause debt to those

The foremost concept of the Affordable Care Act was to allow for more poverty-stricken Americans to be able to gain access to health care. Yet, if you widen the amount of people can get free health care, who is meant to pay for them? In order for this new program to work, the US government needed enough young and healthy Americans to pay into the costs of having health care. However, problems began when Americans were finding that it was less expensive to just take the penalty for not having health care. Elementary office secretary, Catherine Moore explained in a personal interview, how a co-worker had also come across this same realization. “I worked with a lady that during the first year [of the Affordable Care Act] it was cheaper for her to take the penalty than to pay for insurance.” So now, not only is the government missing out on money that could have been used to support those who could not afford health care, but it is also encouraging healthy people who may not

Public policy, such as subsidies in the form of tax credits for the purchase of health plans through the exchanges, have been in existence since the inception of the ACA, but one could contend that this falls short on many fronts. Subsidy thresholds and amounts are simply too low and premium costs too high for many middle-income earners to make ends meet. In some cases people would rather risk going without insurance and pay the penalty, than pay for a plan they can’t afford to use anyway (Bernard,

Obamacare, officially called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Plan, is reforming the healthcare industry and the American health care system: Even though this reform was developed to give America and more rights and protections within the healthcare system, many are saying it is taking their rights within the healthcare system away. The healthcare reform is said it will help tens of millions who are uninsured but many Americans are seeing Obamacare as a threat related to having the government force them into purchasing insurance or paying a penalty for not having insurance. “The law requires all Americans have health insurance by 2014 (or pay a per month fee for each month without minimum essential coverage). Although this shared responsibility provision is unofficially called an individual mandate, it was ruled to be in fact a tax and not a mandate by the June 28, 2012 Supreme court ruling.” (http://obamacarefacts.com/obamahealthcare-summary/, 2015). A total of 54% of Americans in a recent poll say they are against