The Affordable Care Act is also known as Obamacare. It is a big change for the American healthcare industry and for the American healthcare consumer.
The bill is 1000 pages long and addresses a great many pieces of the American health care puzzle. This is too much for most people to read and try to understand. So, most people are looking for some digest form of information on the bill.
Below are ten of the top areas of concern, with Pros and Cons for each of them.
1. The Costs of Obamacare
Pro:
Although most people will pay more for health insurance, the average annual increase of private health insurance premiums under Obamacare has proven to be lower than the average annual increase prior to the implementation of this program. In 29
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This means in real terms, some of the neediest Americans will see a great deal of benefit at little to no cost to themselves.
Last, the expectation is that the increased ability to access wellness or preventive care and the ability to see a physician sooner rather than later should lead to better health outcomes for Americans and help lower healthcare costs generally. In short, people who can get the care they need should be healthier, thereby reducing the need for healthcare in real terms over the long haul.
Con:
The Manhattan Institute claims their data indicates an actual rate increase of 49 percent in 2014 compared to 2013. This contradicts the data citing an expected 8.2 percent increase.
In absolute terms, because millions more people are being insured, the amount spent on insuring Americans will definitely go up. It simply isn't possible to make sure millions more people get health coverage without there being some expense incurred. Some of these costs will be covered by the federal government and businesses. Some of these costs will be covered by individuals purchasing coverage for the first
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Ignoring the need for affordable health care only guarantees that more people will need help from programs like Welfare, Food Stamps and Medicaid. There is no real savings.
Con:
In the short run, federal spending on healthcare and healthcare related programs will definitely go up. Some people project that Obamacare will worsen the federal deficit to the tune of more than a hundred billion dollars over its first decade.
About a third of the people getting healthcare coverage who did not previously have it are getting it by expanding current government programs, such as Medicaid. Medicare is also being expanded to eliminate the "doughnut hole" of prescription drug costs. The federal government will also incur costs for taking responsibility for pieces of the program that some states are choosing to opt out of.
3. The Carrot and Stick Approach
Close to half of each dollar spent on healthcare is inefficiently used both at a clinical and administrative level. Three other areas that funds are not appropriately in are insurer overhead and profit and over priced pharmaceuticals. Projected figures for the first year estimate that just in administrative costs alone the citizenry should see approximately twenty billion dollars worth of savings in the first year. Another area that will put approximately $5.2 billion dollars back into the budget will be that this program will allow the state purchasing power for mass quantity pharmaceuticals and durable equipment. Finally by increasing the emphasis on preventative care and making a primary care physician available to all will add another $3.4 billion. Last but definitely not least, it is estimated that this bill will dramatically reduce fraud approximately $800 billion dollars in healthcare spending. Total savings for the first year are projected to be approximately $29 billion dollars. The projected plan is to use this money for the purpose of providing healthcare to the populous that is currently without health insurance. With these savings and more efficient use of funds all residents will have comprehensive healthcare that at this point was leaving twelve million without it as well as not increase spending (Amaro
The US has recently adopted a healthcare policy aimed to get more Americans insured. This policy is named the Affordable Care Act in 2010. “In 2013 there were 42 million uninsured individuals in the United States. “(The Common, pg. 153) There has since been increase in individuals who are covered either by private insurance or by Medicaid/Medicare which had a coverage increase with the new policy. It is believed that millions of people will now have health insurance compared to previous years.
Expansion of the Medicaid coverage to all new eligible adults and increase fee for service and managed care by primary care physicians will be financed by federal funding. This will cause an outreageous increase in the Federal deficit from the historical 2.9% Gross Domestic Product to more than 20% by 2050.
In order for the central idea behind“Obamacare” to work, people who were previously uninsured would need to still pay their monthly premiums. Unfortunately, that is not the case as according to CNNMoney, “Around one in five”, people who signed up for their new coverage
In addition, the cost for ObamaCare is so much lower. The ACA promised to make prescription drugs more affordable and easier for americans to pay for. The number of prescription and drugs covered by ObamaCare is growing every year. Savings on prescriptions exceeded $15 billion dollars within the first five years of ACA. ObamaCare has helped many people who have lower incomes, and have a hard time paying their bills. The Affordable costs for americans make ObamaCare a great thing. For the people with lower incomes, the Medicaid has expanded and increased because of the Affordable Care Act. Would you rather have to pay for everything or have some of it covered? Obviously some of it covered. I totally agree with ObamaCare and I hope to see it improving within the next
On the cover of the bill it seems to the average citizen that “healthcare for all” and in a way, “no one left behind” was a great idea for health insurance. It would be horrible for someone who is uninsured to suddenly have an accident and have no way of paying for it. The marketing campaign for the Affordable Care Act has hardly been rivaled by any other bill in history. Democrats jumped through hoops and shouted its praises from the roof tops, even though many prominent democratic senators admitted to never reading the bill in its entirety. For example, Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi had been quoted saying “We have to pass the bill to see what’s in it.” This was in response to republican opposition to the bill. It is also ironic that the Affordable Care Act was sold to the American people as simplifying Health Care for all, meanwhile the actual bill was over 20,000 pages long. I and many other Americans, believe that the bill garnered so much support from many moderate democrats, not for what it would do for the American people, but what supporting the bill would do for their campaign funds and re-election
Obamacare is also known as the Affordable Care Act. With the Obamacare Law everyone has a right to health insurance. The law was passed to help people without health insurance be eligible to receive, therefore they cannot be denied assistance. Obamacare is very helpful because you receive help to pay for medication and medical bill. Either most or all, depending on the price would be paid. Companies with 50 or more workers, pay the workers health insurance. With Obamacare there is an equal distribution, no one is left out. Parents that have children under 26 years old can stay under their health plan. People that have had health insurance before March 2010 are not effected as much compared to those that have insurance after. Since the Obamacare
The Affordable Care Act (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), commonly called "Obamacare," is a federal statute that was signed into law in March of 2010 (PDF, n.d.; Van de Water, 2011). It basically requires the vast majority of people in the United States who do not have insurance coverage to acquire that coverage or face penalties. People who already have insurance through their employers or on their own will not be asked to change companies. Additionally, anyone who is on federally-funded insurance such as Medicaid or Medicare and still qualifies for those programs will not be removed from their insurance. They will still be covered and protected. In order to find out more about the Act and really understand its main points and principles, however, it is very important to be aware of how it became a law and any changes that have taken place to it from its inception all the way through where it is today. Only then can a person have a clear understanding of the Act and form an opinion as to the value it may (or may not) provide to the American public. There is still much speculation and a great deal of misunderstanding about the Act and what it involves.
Hospitals and facilities that once provided uncompensated care for the uninsured will continue treating those same patients, now most insured. As more hospitals treat patients that are insured, the revenue they receive will hopefully be able to sustain the cost incurred from the uncompensated care that still exists. The work of uncompensated care is not nearly done, undocumented patients who cannot be covered through the Act still need care and treatment, the federal government it going to be relying on these hospitals and health care centers for quality treatment (Wright & Ricketts,
The Affordable Care Act, often referred to as the ObamaCare was signed into law on March 23, 2010. It has created a lot of controversy since its debut. The Healthcare reform will affect all Americans. The issue has many Americans believing it is a great thing for our country while others believe it is a terrible idea and then of course there are those who don’t know what to think. By Jan 1, 2014 Americans will be required to purchase a health care policy or will have to pay a penalty. Ready or not it’s happening. First you would have to understand the background information of the program. As with all things there are pros and cons to the Affordable Care Act. Because it is a new law it is not flawless there is room for changes and recommendations.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly called Affordable Care Act or, more informally known as, Obamacare, is a United States federal ruling signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. Together with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act amendment, it represents the most drastic refurbish of the United States healthcare system since the Government passed the Medicare and Medicaid in 1965(healthcare.gov). This act is supposed to make primary doctors and hospitals transform their practices and policies to make it more accommodating for all civilians. This means they would transform everything about their
The impact this rise is going to have on heath care as well as heath insurance is very dramatic. Most health insurers, private sector employers and consumers can expect increases in insurance premiums. This includes both traditional types of insurance and managed care programs, or HMOs. Some health insurance plans may also reduce benefits to keep their plans affordable. This may include increasing cost-sharing responsibility of members and the amount members pay out of pocket for certain services, such as prescription drugs.
The Affordable Care Act has been a hot topic of discussion for almost 6 years. The Affordable Care Act or, Obamacare, is a federal statute that was signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23rd, 2010. The Affordable Care Act guarantees access to health care for all Americans, mandates the exploration of new approaches to coordinated health care delivery, gives physicians more information to make them better clinicians and patients more information to make them more
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
The Medicaid expansion will cost the federal government between 15-20 billion dollars in the first six years, but the federal government is paying for 93% of the direct expansion costs. But with the expansion, the greater majority of people will be able to pay their own medical bills, which means the state and local governments will save millions of dollars.