The Paradox in the
Affordable Care Act
Submitted By:
Vodney Wynn vewynn@aol.com October 12, 2014
PA582_CourseProject
Table of Contents
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………3
The History of Healthcare Reform……………………………………………………………………………..…4
The Problem with the ACA……………………………………………………………………………………………6
The Current Policy………………………………………………………………………………………………………..8
Policy Alternatives………………………………………………………………………………………………………10
Evaluation Criteria………………………………………………………………………………………………………10
Policy Recommendation……………………………………………………………………………………………..12
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..13
References………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….14
Introduction
Recent health care reform
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17.1% of Americans who did not have coverage prior to the ACA will have access to quality affordable health insurance through their State's health insurance marketplace, or the expansion of Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) (Sommers, Kenney, & Epstein, 2013). Furthermore, there is also a mandate for employers to advance access to work based coverage.
Through successful implementation millions of Americans would benefit from the imposition of health insurance through the ACA. The law intended to cover the poorest Americans under the Medicaid expansion option and to cover low and middle-income earners with new health insurance exchanges. However, in June 2012, the Supreme Court overruled a portion of this landmark victory by giving each state the option to forego the Medicaid expansion provision. The Court’s ruling creates a breach in the ACA’s potential to afford healthcare to the working poor and abandons those who do not quite qualify for market place subsidies. Consequently, a large segment of the United States population will remain uninsured due to the lack of affordability.
The following analysis will explore the current health insurance problem under the ACA. It will discuss the proposed policy of Medicaid Expansion and the impact of States not cooperating with the implementation of such provision. Moreover, a recommendation on strategies to alleviate the health
The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) from being introduced in 2010 has not been well received by the public. Two main consequences are economic issues, and many states rejecting the act. Economic issues are relevant because it is assumed that insurance premiums are increased, rising cost increases during a recession, mandated benefits and other costs will be passed on to consumers and billions of dollars will be taken from seniors Medicare benefits. In addition, a requirement of the act is that insurance companies spend at least 50-80 percent of premium dollars on medical care, which will lead to less consumer choice and higher prices. Many states are choosing to reject the act
The opposite side of the Affordable Care Act, the idea of this research paper is way to show how the Affordable Care Act is a quagmire and unjust to many American citizens by not allowed one to make his/her own choices. Meanwhile, it focuses on many points such as how citizens are end up paying high tax penalty for not having a health insurance; and it argue on how it should be one choice to choose rather he/ she wants to have health insurance or
This article discusses the progress of the ACA as it enters its sixth year. Jost begins the article by first discussing the success of the act, which include a historical drop in the number uninsured, high levels of satisfaction and a slower growth in health care costs compared to previous years. The paper further discusses how the ACA will roll out in the 2016 year. Individuals and large companies will be taxed for failing to gain and provide access to adequate health insurance. One great idea that Jost poses to increase affordability and access of health care was to make the Marketplace more transparent so that individuals can have a better grasp of provider and drug coverage before they apply. Under the ACA there was also a great push to expand Medicare and Medicaid programs through increasing access and coverage. Although this part of the ACA seemed like a great idea as it provided coverage to more individuals, I wonder how this program and the ACA in general will pan out after the election. The ACA will likely see some changes in the near future. Republican proposals to replace the ACA, which I feel are scarce to being with, might remove the community rating, which will reduce the number of people insured, although ultimately leading to a decrease health care expenditure. On the other hand, Democrats will likely expand the ACA and may also offer additional funding for the program with additional
More than 45 million Americans are uninsured. Even those that do have health insurance often face financial and other barriers when getting healthcare. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) removes most of these financial barriers (Kocher, Emanuel, & DeParle, 2010). The ACA guarantees access to healthcare and creates new incentives to change clinical practice, but some might be surprised to learn that the financial price tag attached goes beyond healthcare costs and taxes which all Americans will pay for costs
The low complexity of ACA’s implementation can be understood by analyzing the improvement of the The Oregon Health Plan in the 1980’s, also discussed by Wheelan (2010). The basic principles behind both plans are very similar in values. In 1987, Governor Neil Goldschmidt, improved Oregon’s health care plan by following four trivial rules: All citizens should have universal access to a basic level of care; Society is responsible for financing care for poor people; There must be a process to define a “basic” level of care; The health-care delivery system must encourage the use of services and procedures that are effective, appropriate and discourage overtreatment. These rules worked so well in Oregon, that by 1994 their uninsured population dropped by 6 percent. In 1998 even their infant mortality and childhood immunization rates improved.
There are close to twelve million people signed up for health insurance and many of those people are of low-income. A down side to these numbers is the fact that some states do not have exchanges for people to go to so, it is possible for the the numbers to be higher. But however in “June 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that the states expansion of medicated had to be voluntary. That left the poor in states such as Texas or Florida that did not expand Medicaid faced with having to pay more that those who are not poor” (Brill 20). The success of this bill relies on the citizens and we must find ways in which we all can benefit from this and not just throw it
I’m sure you have heard many debates, discussions, and opinions about the law ObamaCare. Do you know what this law was implemented for? Do you know why some could support it or want it repealed? Do you realize how much money one could leave the taxpayers to pay for their unpaid medical bills because they could not afford insurance? “ObamaCare, officially called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) but more often called the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for short, reforms the health insurance industry and the American health care system as a whole” (ObamaCare Facts). Barack Obama and the Supreme Court ruling in 2012 gave Americans better rights and more protection for access to universal affordable quality healthcare to the uninsured population. ObamaCare was not designed to change the way one gets insurance, but to alleviate the national health care crisis of forty-four million uninsured Americans. I chose to do my research paper over this particular topic because I wanted to learn more information on how the working middle class could obtain insurance for them and/or their families. I also wanted to know how people who are uninsured could have access to ObamaCare and what ObamaCare actually does for the uninsured.
The propose of this article is to present the advantages and disadvantages of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare which make all Americans insurable, by requiring insurers to accept all applicants at rates based on population averages regardless of health status. The ACA increases coverage by allowing states to expand Medicaid (the social healthcare program for families and people with low income and resources) as well to cover everyone near the poverty line, and by subsidizing private insurance for people who do not get workplace coverage (Mark A Hall, Richard Lord, 2016)
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as ObamaCare, is a healthcare reform law that focus on providing more Americans with access to affordable health insurance. “The ACA is expected to add 32 million people seeking primary and preventive service and treatment” (journalofnursingregulation.com). It was first enacted by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. The act has offered a number of people with benefits, set up a place they can purchase health insurance, expanded the use of Medicaid and Medicare to the disabled and senior citizens. The Act has forced many employers to offer coverage to their employees. Despite all of the positive attributes this act has provided, there is a flip side to it. Americans are required to have health
In February 2017, the news was dominated by stories and video of town hall meetings with constituents telling their representatives stories of how the ACA had benefitted them or their loved ones in one way or another (Colliver, 2017). There is no doubt that the law has helped thousands, maybe even millions of people across the country. There have also been stories of individuals who have health insurance, but are unable to use it because of high deductibles, which effectively render the insurance policies these people hold emergency only plans (Luhby, 2016). This is most certainly an unintended consequence of a law that was written with good intentions, but which needs to be modified to work with the real life situations the citizens of this country are faced with.
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and compare it to the status of how this has been implemented in the state of Ohio. I will list several positive and negative outcomes and how these outcomes have impacted my community in Ohio. I will also list several examples of how the health care reform has affected the economics in health care for my state. I will conclude with my final thoughts on the health care reform and give my personal opinion on whether or not I feel that it has been effective in my state.
In March 2010, one of the most controversial bills in modern history was signed into law by President Barack Obama. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act expanded the 1965 bill passed under President Johnson that created Medicare and Medicaid (“LBJ Presidential Library,” 2015). While the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare” as it has been dubbed by the media, has many components, the focus here is the expansion of Medicaid. Obamacare sought to expand Medicaid to cover those who earn too much to qualify for traditional Medicaid, but not enough to afford employer-provided health care. These people are said to be in the “coverage gap” (“Obamacare Medicaid expansion,” 2015). While only 32 states have adopted Obamacare, we should advance a policy encouraging the remaining states to expand existing coverage by extending the period of federal government cost-sharing an additional five years. Doing so would give states previously refusing the cost sharing a second chance to opt-in. This expansion would save money for the states from some of the rising cost of healthcare, and fulfill our moral duty to care for uninsured Americans.
The ACA does require most individuals to obtain health insurance only if they can afford it. But with the healthcare systems expenditures comprising 17.6% of the U.S. gross domestic product and with millions of Americans not having the accessibility of health care, resulting in poor health indicators, the current administration’s priority was to create mandated healthcare reform. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the act will enable an additional 32 million Americans or a total of 94% of Americans to have access to health insurance (Niles, 28).
The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), popularly known as “Obamacare”, has drastically altered healthcare in America. The goal of this act was to give Americans access to affordable, high quality insurance while simultaneously decreasing overall healthcare spending. The ACA had intended to maximize health care coverage throughout the United States, but this lofty ambition resulted in staggeringly huge financial and human costs.
The ACA has several important expanded coverage features. Most notably, the new law keeps young adults, 26 years of age and younger, on their parent’s health insurance plan. This particular aspect of the reform allowed up to 3 million young adults to remain covered on their parent’s plan which mean 3 million more people had access to primary care, urgent care, and medication. This was a huge increase from 2010 in which 30% of young Americans between the ages of 19 and 29 had no health insurance coverage. (ObamaCare Young Adults. 2010). Additional features of increased coverage under the ACA was the