Underserved Community: A Case Study

I will compare the current health care system with the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) that became law on March 23, 2010.   The current system, which is being phased out between 2011 and 2018 is increasingly inaccessible to many poor and lower-middle-class people. About 47 million Americans lack health insurance, an increase of more than two million people from 2005 (Rover, 2011) the increasingly complex warfare between insurers and hospitals over who pays the bills is gobbling up a great deal of money and the end result is that the United States pays roughly twice as much per

One of the many reasons that people like about the Obamacare Act was that more people who would be able to have insurance. Before the act, there were several people who were not able to afford insurance to where they would covered in a case of tragic accident were to occur. According to the website, Obamacarefacts, it states that “Before the ACA, about 38 million Americans had inadequate health insurance.” So with the help of the act people will able to buy a policy for a certain price they could be able to handle. With the Medicaid extending into Obamacare, people who did not have enough money to have insurance or qualify for it, would now be able to get Medicaid insurance to where they wouldn’t have to pay for. (CCH, 52). This was very important because the people whose income was very low that were not able to pay for insurance deals or the penalties were protected from them. Their families would be safe in case of a tragic event and would help with if they

Since June 6, 2009, President Barack Obama told the American public multiple times, “If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan.” The public later found out that this was not the case. If your health care plan did not satisfy the minimum federal requirements then you will lose your plan and will have to find another one. House republicans have tried to repeal the bill almost 40 times because they claim it is a major threat to the economic health of the nation. Despite all of the political rhetoric about Obamacare over the past few years, most Americans do not know what it is and how it affects them. While Obamacare does attempt to fix some issues in our healthcare system, it still has not completely fixed the problems at hand. It is an unjust fix and it is far from complete.

The Affordable Care Act also known as Obamacare increases the quality, accessibility, and affordability of health insurance for all types of people with various financial status. In exchange, people who do not have an insurance would have to pay an additional fee for not having han insurance. This policy would make more people get an insurance and receive benefits as they grow old. This would ensure that it is not cheap for the people who are actually able to pay for their service. This law, stops insurance companies from dropping you when you are sick, protects against gender discrimination, expands free preventative services and health benefits, expands Medicaid, improves Medicare, requires larger employers to insure their employees. This would ensure equality for all patients are patients would not be abandoned when they are severely sick or not able to pay for their treatment. This also creates a marketplace for subsidized insurance providing tens of millions individuals, families, and small businesses with free or low-cost health insurance, and

Before Obama proposed the Affordable Care Act, he stated, "No matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what. My view is that health care reform should be guided by a simple principle: fix what’s broken and build on what works.” (Barack H. Obama Address to the annual meeting of the American Medical Association, June 15, 2009). Now that the act has been passed, however, this is not the case. If you had a non-grandfathered plan (enrolled after March 23, 2010) that met the requirements of the Affordable Care Act, you were able to keep it. You were also able to keep your plan if it was grandfathered in (enrolled on or

There have been government programs in the past which have also attempted to make healthcare more accessible and affordable. Two such prominent programs are Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare provides health care coverage to the elderly, while Medicaid provides coverage to the poor. They were endorsed by President Johnson. However, even with the implementation of Medicare and Medicaid, which were enacted in 1965, there are many who are still uninsured (“Affordable Care Act”) . One of the goals of the Affordable Care Act was to help such individuals receive health care coverage. While attempting to garner support for the law, many of its advocates, including President Obama, also promised that those who already had coverage they were content would be able to keep it.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act establishes new requirements for health plans and insurers changed in order to expand access to affordable coverage, and prevent individuals from losing certain coverage. New coverage insurance market regulations will prevent health insurers from denying coverage to people for any reason, in which their health status, and charging people more based on their health status and gender. These new rules will also require that all new health plans provide extensive coverage that include at least a minimal set of services, caps annual out‐of‐pocket spending that does not impose cost‐sharing for preventive services, as well as no impose annual or lifetime limits on coverage. For example, new insurance market regulations within private insurances allow young adults are able to stay in their parents health insurance up to the age 26. Once an employee has reached age 26 they have to upgrade from their parents insurance plan to defendant coverage plan eliminating annual and lifetime limits on coverage such as rescissions and waiting periods within 90 days. Health insurers will be prohibiting from placing an age limit to their coverage in case of fraud. Large employer that offer coverage plans will have to automatically places employs in to a low cost premium plan if the employ sign up or exit out of coverage. Overall health plan premiums will be able to vary based on an age, geographic area tobacco

A less-known consequence of this mandate, one that is rarely mentioned in the public or media discussions on the plan is “individual mandate”, the requirement that each person must either purchase insurance coverage or pay an “uninsured tax” as a penalty for not maintaining health coverage. The law actually fines those who choose to not to carry any kind of insurance for every month not insured in the form of an added tax, and the amount of that tax is growing annually. In 2014, the rate was about $95 per adult and $50 per child per year. For a family of four that is $290 a year just in an extra tax. “The fee increases each year until it ends up being about the price of getting the cheapest health plan”. For example, in 2015 the rates will jump drastically to $325 per adult and $162 per child per year (Obamacare

Since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, some may argue that access to quality health care and services are easier to obtain. The law mandates that all citizens of the United States as well as those individuals who are non-citizens, but are legal residents, acquire health insurance coverage. In order for there to be minimal barriers to accessibility of health coverage, an online health insurance marketplace provides individuals with the option to shop for health insurance plans. The plans are categorized by the state in which the individual resides. The exchange allows individuals to review plan specifications. Additionally, the exchange provides coverage options through participating insurers through a tier system. The consumer is able to make a comparison of services covered in each tier, prescription costs, as well as premium costs associated with each health plan. From that, consumers have information about an array of detailed plan options and covered services in which to make an informed decision and purchase coverage that best suits their individual needs as well as the needs of their family.

Before ObamaCare, families and individuals who were not covered by employers for healthcare had to seek out insurance on their own. This task proved very difficult as insurance providers charged steep prices for coverage. In short, health care coverage was not affordable to a large portion of the population. The law seeks to cover Americans who are between 138% and 400% of the Federal Poverty Level. They can sign up for Health Care via a government run website, which will allow them to choose a plan that best suits their needs. A formula will then decide based on their state how much a plan will cost for them as well as how much of their health care is

Through the provisions in this act citizens will be able to receive several benefits including: “the ban on discriminating against individuals with pre-existing conditions, government subsidies for individuals who cannot afford health care, an individual mandate requiring Americans to hold health care unless it violates their religious principles or is excessively expensive even after subsidies, a ban on lifetime limits on essential medical services, and insurance exchanges where citizens can pick amongst a variety of health plans offered by private insurers that must meet certain government criteria for quality and affordability” (Schimmel, 2). Even though this act was passed, it remains highly contested right with only five out of nine Supreme Court judges upholding its constitutionality (Schimmel,

Many American’s can barely pay for their current insurance now and adding someone else’s bill on top of theirs is not right. Many grandfathered bills will go away because they simply cannot pay for coverage in all areas. This leads people to take part of Obamacare that people don’t really want but have no choice because their insurance cannot fully cover everything they need. Simply because many thing will change in the world and so will the requirements of someone’s coverage. This all comes back down to Barack Obama lying to the nation saying anyone can keep their plan because they cannot if it is a grandfathered plan. Eventually all grandfathered plans will go and no one will have nothing left but

Before the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the statistics reported that over 50 million people in the US had no health insurance. In 2010, the long awaited healthcare reform was passed and many efforts were made to reduce the percentage of uninsured. The enrollment in the Medicare services was extended, millions of low-income individuals were eligible to be enrolled in Medicaid coverage, lifetime dollar limits were eliminated, insurance were no longer able to refuse coverage due to existing conditions. Since 2010, multiple provisions were enacted to improve quality and increase access to health care. One of the biggest changes that came into effect in 2014, was the “individual mandate”, a provision that requires all legal citizens to acquire health insurance under the tax penalty. Since 2015,

On top of regulation, in order to help this system reach everyone, Obamacare is designed to offer insurance rates based on one’s salary. And in addition to salary based premium rates, Obamacare is offering subsidies, which is cost assistance that “lowers the amount you spend on your monthly premium (via advanced premium tax credits) or reduces your out-of-pocket costs for things like copays, coinsurance, deductibles and out-of-pocket maximum (cost sharing reduction).” (http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-subsidies/) Also, small businesses of a minimum 50 employees are now required to offer insurance for their employees, bringing more people closer to the reach of insurance. Those who previously viewed health care coverage as a luxury can now be closer to obtaining affordable coverage. “The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that 48% of Americans who buy individual insurance today would be eligible for subsidies. They would receive an average of $5,548, which would cover 66% of the price.” (http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/21/news/economy/obamacare-subsidies/) Aside from insurance regulations, Obamacare has initiated additional perks to enhance the health system for everyone’s benefit. One significant adjustment for children up to ages 19 with pre-existing conditions is that health

An individual mandate was established, making it a requirement to buy insurance or end up paying a penalty fee. This mandate was put into effect to keep healthy people from holding off on buying insurance until they were sick. This way insurers didn’t have to pay more money in the long run due to increase claims.