Individual Mandate Essay

Consider the similarities and differences between the NASW Code of Ethics and the Trauma Informed Care principles and the section on ethics in TIP 57. Please discuss differences or complementarities that you observe.

In order to completely understand the extent of its unconstitutionality, it is important to look at its origins and its constitutional challenges. The first government endeavor into health care was when “Medicaid and Medicare were created [by] President Lyndon B. Johnson… on July 30, 1965” (“What is Medicare”). These two programs were mostly used as a social safety net, and didn’t affect the general public. “On March 22, 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (ABC-CLIO). With the Affordable Care Act came the controversial Individual Mandate. The Individual Mandate of the Affordable Care Act is the portion of the bill that forces individuals to purchase health insurance, or face a penalty. This immediately triggered challenges to not only repeal the law, but also to

This is where Congress’ power to tax comes in. Article 1 Section 8 of the US Constitution states that, “the Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imports, and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imports, and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States”. Although it is not upheld that Congress can use its power to require that everyone buy health insurance, it was agreed on by majority vote that the penalty imposed on those who do not buy a healthcare plan is a tax that Congress can impose by using its power to tax. With this, it is understandable that while Obama cannot make anyone buy insurance, he can penalize them for it in the form of a tax. According to the U.S. government, since the Affordable Care Act was passed, 16.4 million Americans have gained health insurance. However, 13% of adult Americans still lack coverage (Patient’s Rights Council). Many people are actually choosing to pay the tax rather than spend a large amount of money for insurance that they do not want, but there is another problem with that option. Although the tax is only $95 (or 1% of the family income, whichever is greater) after a year of having not enrolled in a healthcare plan, the penalty rises to $325 (or 2% the family income) the next year and $695

What is Obamacare? “Obamacare is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. The name was created by critics of President Obama's efforts to reform health care, but it stuck. Even President Obama likes it, because he says it shows he does care.” (Amadeo, N.d) In short, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a policy in which you are required to obtain medical insurance if you do not already have any, or be subject to a tax. The most easily argued aspect of the bill is constitutionality and this is where the question of government overstepping biblical principles comes into play. “By passing Obamacare, the small minority of elected men known as Congress put the state and themselves over and beyond their sole duty as a ministers of justice, and put themselves in a sovereign position over the lives of Americans.” (Necerato, 2013).

What started out as a much needed revision of the Health Care System has turned into a total overhaul which was not passed with bipartisan agreement. This division is reflected not only in the government, but among the people of the United States as well. Polls are taken daily and most of them show that the vast majority of Americans do not want the Health Care Bill. Due to the larger part of America not wanting this bill and finding the bill itself unconstitutional, many states have now filed a lawsuit against the federal government. More than a dozen states that have filed suit against the government believe that this bill violates the Constitution and many more states are considering joining the lawsuits. Some of these contend that the Health Care Bill infringes upon the Tenth Amendment. This amendment states that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States, respectively, or to the people"(Dethrick 1). This amendment declares that the states have the ability to implement their own decisions despite what the federal government says. This lawsuit will prove to be a long and costly battle. Regardless of the results of this litigation, undoubtedly, the country will remain divided on this issue for years to come.

The term “individual mandate,” as a component of the Affordable Care Act, is a mandatory requirement according to which the majority of people in the United States has to have some kind of health insurance. Most specifically, according to the fundamentals of this regulation, any individual who can afford a health insurance policy, but chooses not to do so, will have to pay a fine. Prior to the existence of the individual mandate, health insurance companies had the choice to reject people with health conditions that would potentially incur high costs. Because of this reason, a significant number of people did not have any health coverage. In order to maintain insurance premiums reasonably steady and sustain government cost balanced,

After the inception of ACA that is Affordable Care Act on March 23, 2010 various policies and regulations has been proposed which has more controversy (www.healthcapital.com, 2013). Affordable health act has impact on the stakeholders in different manner. The main concern in the medical field is the input cost which is increasing continuously. This is the biggest challenge for the US government as the increasing cost makes it impossible for the government to allocate appropriate resources in managing the requirements of the ACA public policy. There are more initiatives taken by the US government in implementing the ACA in an appropriate manner by continuously improving the quality of health care at affordable lower costs

The affordable care act was passed by congress and then signed into law by the President on March 23, 2010. On June 28th 2012 the Supreme Court rendered a final decision on the law. The affordable care act also known as the health care law offers clear choices for consumers and provides new ways to hold insurance companies accountable.

The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is a healthcare program created by president Obama’s administration. The goal of the Affordable Care Act is to make sure every United States citizen has health insurance. The Affordable Care Act provides “affordable” health insurance plans to citizens that do not have any and make about $15,000 a year. While the idea of providing health insurance to the millions of American’s that cannot afford it is great, everything comes at a cost. According to Emily Miller, Obamacare is causing people’s health insurance premiums to rise by around 1 to 9 percent (Miller 15-15). Not only are insurance premiums rising, but ever since the Supreme Court declared the Affordable Care Act constitutional approximately 20 tax hikes have been approved (Battersby). All the aforementioned reasons are helping pay for Obamacare. Although providing health insurance for people that cannot afford it is important, the Affordable Care Act should be revoked because it will hurt the economy.

President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, into law on March 23rd 2010. Congress had tried for decades to pass health care reform, beginning with President Franklin Roosevelt. “Following President Obama’s inauguration, he used Democrat control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate to enact health care reform legislation, and granted the federal government control of over 16% of our nations economy” (Taylor 3). The law states that every American citizen is mandated to purchase health insurance. “If you choose not to obtain Health Insurance by January 2014, you will be penalized $95, or 1% of your income-whichever is greater” (Taylor 5). “The penalty rate for non-compliance will

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).

It takes very little to disrupt the slow but steady healing progress our nation has undertaken in the wake of the financial crisis of seven years ago. As President Barack Obama once said, by signing the Affordable Care Act into law, “everyone should have some basic security when it comes to their health care” (Stolberg, Sheryl Gay) . Something as influential as a universal health care bill is no exception to delicate recovery the United States economy has undertaken over the past several years. As in the Affordable Care Act’s name, health care should be affordable for people of all tax brackets. While many are concerned of the repercussions this health care bill will not only have on employment opportunities but also higher taxes,

Texas has the largest uninsured population with an estimated 6.2 million uninsured citizens within its stateliness, approximately a quarter of the statewide population (Rapoport, 2012). In 2012, then governor, Rick Perry decided that Texas would not expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This decision led to much debate over whether or not Perry made the right decision to leave upwards of a million Texans, who did not receive insurance subsidies and did not qualify for Medicaid, uninsured. These Texans fell under what many politicians refer to as the “coverage gap.” Texas decided not to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act because of the effects it would have on hospitals, financial reasons, and increased number of

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

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.