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Essay On Affordable Care Act

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Charlie Richardson
PLSC 202
Dr. John Holder
4 Dec 2017

The Affordable Health Care Act on Alabama’s Economic Development

In 2010, the federal government the Affordable Care Act, or more commonly known as “Obamacare.” This federal statute represented the largest and most significant regulatory overhaul and expansion to the healthcare system since Medicare and Medicaid were introduced in 1965. The ACA's major provisions appeared into power in 2014. By 2016, the uninsured portion of the population was cut roughly in half, with by the end of 2016, an estimated of between 20-24 million Americans additionally were covered with health insurance (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act). The increased healthcare coverage was caused, roughly …show more content…

In general, health insurance costs in Alabama are high, and they’re rising at an exponential rate. When you consider in Alabama most mortgages for middle-class families are less than $1500/month and you see how Alabama citizens are pay an outrageous amount of $2,000/month, on average, for health insurance is astronomical. Employer-based health insurance plans are more expensive in Alabama. In 2015, the average cost for an employee, for premiums and deductibles, represented 11.2% of the median income, which is one of the highest amongst the United States. Since 2015, the costs of these premiums and deductibles are continuing to rise. When the Affordable Health Care Act was written and while it is commonly discussed, the externalities regarding the economy and economic development are rarely taken into account. The ACA does hinder economic development, which in the state of Alabama is something that is desperately needed, not government subsidization. The main objective of the ACA was to increase the overall number of Americans who possessed health insurance, which that number was greatly increased by enacting in the law the mandatory requirement to have healthcare coverage, whether that’s employer, state or federally provided. Looking at the overall national level of economic development, the ACA dramatically hinders the development of the labor markets, and overall capital investment. The congressional budget

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