Universal Healthcare: The Pros and Cons On March 23, 2010 the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed by President Obama, raising the question for many of whether this new law was going to be more helpful or hurtful. With universal healthcare, healthcare coverage would be increased tremendously, costs would be reduced, jobs would be created, and consumers would be protected. Conversely, it will also raise taxes and wait times, lead to a smaller number of doctors, and infringe on some employers’ 1st amendment rights. Presenting both arguments for and against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act allows one to draw a conclusion on whether the new program will benefit or hinder the citizens of the United States. …show more content…
It was stated earlier in this paper that big businesses would benefit from this law; however, the exact opposite is true for small businesses. Businesses will be forced to provide healthcare for their employees or pay a fine, something they may not be able to afford. This may result in employees’ hours being cut or even the termination of the employee (“ObamaCare”). The PPACA will also have a direct negative impact on the medical field as a whole. By 2025 there is expected to be a shortage of nearly 52,000 physicians. This, coupled with the number of office visits increasing over 100 million times, will put incredible strain on the healthcare system (“The Patient Protection”). This will cause wait times for medical treatment to be greatly increased. Patients will be more likely to go to the emergency room for minor treatments, such as coughs due to colds, thus causing patients with real emergencies to wait even longer. Also, there will be no competition for patients. This competition is what encourages health care workers to excel in their specialties and to become better. This may even cause fewer people to choose to pursue a career in the medical profession (Ireland). One of the more controversial arguments against universal healthcare is the effect it will have on known religious-based businesses. As stated earlier, with the PPACA businesses will be required to provide health insurance for their employees that would include
This paper discusses how the ACA has impacted the employer stakeholder group. Peer-reviewed journal articles will be examined to show how employers have been affected now and into the future, along with how employees are affected as well. Many mandates and changes have influenced and impacted employers in how they handle and deliver health care coverage, as well as impacting their business as well. Many changes affect large employers the most, but small to mid-size employers are also affected as well. This paper will also discuss commonly used strategies and their risks for employers to use in order to help lessen the impact of the ACA.
In a country where healthcare is a decision, many debate if our country should keep our health care system privatized. Health care is an essential need in society because individual health can change at any time without warning at any time. While there are both pros and cons of this system, the pros outway the cons. I believe that our nation should ensure basic health care to all legal citizens, no matter the class. Many Americans fall into circumstances where they are not able to pay the expensive bills that privatized insurance companies billhave so they do not have chose to not have insurance at all. Universal health care gives those people the means of financial support when they medically need
The new law also provides some benefits to businesses. “The Obama Administration issued information about this law to small businesses across the country to help cut down the price of their health coverage to their employees.” (FDCH Regulatory Intelligence Database) The administration considers doing this a step to even the playing field between the large and small businesses. With this help almost four million small businesses can apply for relief from the otherwise high health insurance premiums. Potentially, this has the opportunity to save the smaller businesses almost $40 billion dollars by 2019. The Administration feels this is a tremendous idea because small businesses have been the engine to our economy for ages. The PPACA provides competitive health insurance markets that are referred to as Exchanges that will begin in 2014.This will provide the small and large businesses to come together and get a fairer deal from the bigger insurance companies. Business people in the physician assisted profession are positively affected by this new law. The American Academy of Physician Assistants states that this act offers tremendous promise in improving health care for all Americans. The Academy states, “The
The question of Universal Healthcare in the United States has valid and non valid arguments with supporters on both sides of the issue. Millions of Americans do not have affordable health care insurance. The main question is who is responsible to provide this? Is it feasible for government to pay for the lack of health care by taxpayer’s dollars? Should you be responsible for yourselves or should you be compensated by the government? Unemployment is at record high making health insurance less attainable or affordable than ever. In most cases, additional restrictions or
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
The subject matter of universal health care is important because the current system of health care in America is economically and morally wrong. The United States spends more than double on health care and still millions are left without coverage. During the Progressive Era, AALL (American Association of Labor Legislation) proposed a bill which provided coverage to those making less than $1200 and would be provided services such as physicians, hospitals, and nurse which would be shared between workers, employers, and the state. This system was opposed by the AFL (American Federation of Labor) because it felt this movement would weaken unions. Furthermore, Bill Clinton proposed a system of universal health care which would provide health coverage
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.
The Affordable Care Act which is also known as Obamacare and Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was signed into law on March 23, 2010 and it has not been without its share of problems, debates and controversies. One of the main points of contention with the PPACA is the individual mandate. This paper will look at the worldviews that are involved in the individual mandate, the worldviews of those that oppose the mandate, the roles and limits of the government’s side of the mandate issue and the conflicting views and ideas that have come about. 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” also to be able to “improve the fairness, quality, and affordability of health insurance coverage” and 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 aims that were pointed out in drawing up the policies for PPACA to develop what was hoped to be universal healthcare for the citizens of the United States. While the PPACA does have its benefits, such as it would cover pre-existing conditions where most private insurances do not do, more people have the
“The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Implications for Public Health Policy and Practice.” Public Health Reports. Association of Schools of Public Health. n.d. Web. 14 July 2015. This paper claims that the PPACA will cut the number of uninsured Americans in half. The act attempts to provide nearly universal coverage and improve the quality and equity of said coverage through reforms to insurance standards and the marketplace. It also attempts to improve the quality of healthcare and the efficiency of its delivery by allowing consumers to edge the system into a more integrated state and measuring performance. It attempts to encourage preventive medicine by targeting chronic illnesses and funding community-based medicine. These changes will bring huge opportunities for improvement in the system, many of which are subtle and nuanced and will only be seen as the plan rolls into act over the next few
On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Healthcare Act into law. It had been estimated that 30 million people would sign up for the new healthcare act. As of April 15, 2015 the actual number of people that have signed up is 11,776,046 which is a far cry from what was predicted. Within the healthcare system all across the United States things are changing. How will the Affordable Healthcare Act impact the healthcare system within the United States? This paper will address what the Affordable Healthcare Act is first and then
Since the advent of health insurance in the 1950s, there have been many models of care that are come to the scene in an attempt to both control cost of care and improve quality of care. Insurance models came into being because the fee for service model used until then was proving to increase cost of healthcare without any measure of quality of services and care provided. Health insurance models have evolved from the basic hospital offered insurance to employer sponsored coverage plans. The US health system is broken both financially and quality wise with more than 20% of gross domestic product being spent on healthcare (Blackstone, 2016).
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
Before the ACA, people complain in the hospitals and in the clinics that the work is too much, and they need more employees for help. When Obamacare come,
Over five million individuals have lost their health insurance since Obamacare has been approved and put into action. The policy of Obamacare states that employers who are providing health insurance to their employees must tack on additional benefits that the companies cannot afford to do. This in turn causes the eventual cancellation of coverage for the employees, leaving them with no options besides signing up for Obamacare. It is the scheme of all schemes. Policy makers are constantly adding revisions to the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) making it harder and harder for individual businesses and corporations to keep their health plan up to the standards Obamacare has set in place.
Under the current healthcare reform bill HR-4872, there are several stipulations that will benefit everyone. The proposed bill eliminates the “Pre-existing Condition” clause that insurance companies have been manipulating around for many years. How many people have been stuck in dead end jobs, unable to further their career for the fear of being denied insurance coverage due to a pre-existing condition. The bill (HR-4872) also makes purchasing health coverage affordable. Under the current American system, the health insurance providers can pass on rate increases to the consumers without regard to the clients ability to pay or their after taxes income. It is estimated that healthcare insurance costs have increased as much as 18 – 25% over just the past three years alone. This dramatic increase in premium expenses has put healthcare insurance out of the reach of millions of Americans.