The Uninsured and Special Populations--Healthcare

Health care has been a controversial topic of discussion for all Americans since it was put in effect many years ago. Currently the biggest debate of Healthcare up to date is Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, is a Health care Reform that is a governmental attempt to make basic health care easily obtainable. However, there are no benefits without cost in situations like this, and upon that are different viewpoints on the subject thus creating political debates discussing if it is ethically correct. The overall goal that Obamacare hopes to accomplish is that through specific changes through insurance companies, industry standards, and patient guarantees a healthier America will be produced. Obamacare has its ups and downs for both the generally agreeing democratic viewpoints and the opposing republican side. Both viewpoints have their own beliefs about how Health care works and Obamacare is somewhat in between on this. Most arguments on Obamacare deal with Medicaid being constitutional and if Obamacare truly reduces the total cost of health care for individuals and in the government.

Financial burdens greatly limit the system’s accessibility; however, many in the U.S. are unable to fully utilize either option. Census estimates from 1999 indicate that 43 million Americans live without health insurance even though 75 percent of them have a full-time job or live in a household with at least one member working full-time (Mueller, , 5) In addition to the totally uninsured, census estimates also reveal that approximately 42 million other people in the U.S. are underinsured. This means that they have some insurance, but are still unable to afford all of their needed prescriptions, tests, visits to physicians, or hospital

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

Financial barriers to access health care are common in a low-income family when they are uninsured or underinsured. Many uninsured and undocumented immigrant received federal and state health care coverage. Latinos and African American are the ethnicities that are disproportionally get affected. Limited access to a doctor when they are sick, taking non-prescribed medication and holding off recommended treatment is only some of the problems they encountered (Carrillo et al., 2011).

The affordable care act (ACA) or the Obama health care reform has been a topic of great concern in today’s health care. In March 23rd 2010 President Obama signed the health care legistration (Obama Care) into law. The passage of the law affected different many issues in the lives of Americans. Socially, it was a great law due to the facts that individuals that cannot afford health care would have access to health care regardless of preexisting conditions and young adults benefits in staying longer under their parents insurance until age 26. Hence, economically, depending on the side of the table the individual chooses (republican or Democrat) there will be an increase in national debt because more people will be eligible for Medicaid (The National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare, 2012). According to Root (2012) the so-called Obama health care reform will be a tax imposed on the citizens of the United States, because it obliges people to actually buy insurance provided by the government, which is in a big violation of the commerce clause or the individual mandate threatens the foundation of contract law. American contract law rest on the principle of mutual assent. For example, if I hold a gun to your head and force you to sign a contract, no court of law will honor that document since I coerced you into signing it. Mutual assent must be present in order for a contract to be valid and binding (Markham, 2002).

Vulnerable populations is a term that creates an image of distinct and narrow-minded minority though the vulnerability of every individual to illness, disease, and injury has made health insurance necessary and probable for a huge portion of the American population. Vulnerable populations in the United States includes parents and children of immigrants, race/ethnic minorities, the disabled poor, the elderly, foster children, families ineligible for welfare, prison inmates and former offenders, children with special care needs, and residents of rural areas. However, the uninsured population has developed to become one of the vulnerable populations in the United States because of the risks and dangers associated with the lack of health insurance. As a result of the increased of the number of the uninsured, they have a huge financial impact on the vulnerable population.

Hispanics are one of the largest groups in the United States that are uninsured. Additionally, the Hispanic population is one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the U.S. The Hispanic population is estimated to increase over the next 25 years to 32 million out of a total of 72 million of the US population (Brice, 2000). The U.S. health care system is facing one of its most notable societal issues in years in reference to its ability to provide access to medical care for the millions of Americans who do not have health care, for whatever cause. The Affordable Care Act was signed into law on March 23, 2010, for the purpose of reducing inequalities in insurance coverage and to provide access to health care for all. A vital goal of the

Either way, those who do not benefit from this Obamacare will have to pay for it as well. This is due to the increase of taxes that will be implemented throughout the country to help support the new system. Many would say that raising taxes to those who do not have access to the affordable health care system is unjust because they do not benefit from this new reform act. “Despite the above efforts, some people ended up paying more for health insurance under Obamacare than they did under their previous private plans.” This new form system cannot become an effective reform act if the price will increase for those who do not have the access to this system. “No reform can work well or very long if its costs are unsustainable.” Along with that, for those who were ‘privileged’ to obtain this new health care system were still charged a substantial increase in their health coverage plan.

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.

One of the major social problems in the United States is the increasing number of uninsured people who are among the vulnerable populations in the America. In 2008, there were approximately 46 million of non-elderly Americans without health insurance including adults and children. While this population includes people from all age ranges, young adults account for a significant portion of these people since they are likely to be uninsured. Moreover, many uninsured individuals are in families with at least a single full-time worker as Hispanics excessively have the highest rates of the uninsured. However, the huge share of this population is white Americans as compared to people from other races.

“ObamaCare contains many benefits, especially for low and middle income families and business” (“ObamaCare: Pros and Cons”). Many people have been having concerns on the cost of the insurance because it has raised in cost. There is a new law out there that President Barack Obama passed called ObamaCare. ObamaCare is also known to be The Affordable Care Act (ACA). The goal of this act was to make sure every American had health insurance by January 2014. ObamaCare went from being something good, to a controversial issue towards Americans. This topic is very debatable in positive and negative ways, it just all depends on how it effects someone. One of ObamaCare’s requirements were to have companies provide health insurance to people

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

Obamacare may be one of the most debatable topics at the moment ever since 2010. For those who are still confused on what Obamacare is and how it works is understandable and common amongst Americans. Obamacare is also known as the Affordable Care Act. It can be summed up as a law that ensures every American has access to health insurance that is affordable and within their budget. This is done by offering people discounts on government-sponsored health insurance plans, and by expanding the Medicaid assistance program so they include more people who can’t afford health care. In order for someone to qualify for Obamacare they must have an insurance plan that covers at least ten essential services that pertain

There are many variations that are often hidden within the special population. As of today, the health care system inhabits the margins by exposing impoverished individual. However, the individuals that are part of the special population each carries a unique set of needs. The special population can consist of the uninsured, minorities, children, disabled people, elderly, prisoners, pregnant women, students, and sadly to say veterans and military personnel. Furthermore, foundations of the special population consist of maintaining the self-perceived notion that fairness will apply to all individuals. In addition, it is important within the special population to distinguish the risk factors that are involved in health care. The best way to complete such a task is applying nonprejudice judgments. Individuals that make decisions for the special population often describe the services as insensitive in regards to understanding and accepting integration into health care. According to (Shi & Singh, 2015, p. 417) “to the framework, vulnerability is determined by a convergence of (1) predisposing, (2) enabling, and (3) need characteristics at both individual and ecological (contextual) levels.” Within the paper, I will discuss the factors that are attributed to the special population. The characteristic within the special population poses a weakness that stems from insurance coverage, and access.

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