Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or ‘Obamacare’ in 2010 and its implementation in 2014,there has been a steady decline in the uninsured population of the United States of America. The number of Americans with health insurance, has reached a historic peak. According to recent data from the Census Bureau about health insurance coverage, the number of uninsured Americans fell from 33 million the year prior to ACA implementation to 29 million in 2014.The total uninsured rate dropped by more than 4 percent since the health care law took effect. The ACA has significantly reduced the number of Americans who were not able to acquire health insurance due to poverty, unemployment, or having a pre-existing condition. Despite these gains, the Affordable Care Act is still experiencing a multitude of challenges. For instance, some states like Texas refused to expand Medicaid eligibility for low-income individuals below the poverty rate, undocumented immigrants not covered under the open marketplace and Medicaid options and the increasing cost of health insurance premiums. According to (Rovner, September 13, 2016, p. 1), the main objective of the Affordable Care Act was to reduce the number of Americans without health insurance coverage. Referencing the Census Bureau, she argues that the rate of the uninsured has dropped from 10.4% in 2013 to 9.1% in 2014. She described the gains achieved across all demographics, although some groups fair better than others.
Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act, implemented by President Barack Obama is the one of the major healthcare reform in America after Medicare’s implementation. Also it is one of the most debatable issues in the present times. Many are doubtful about its long term effects while many more are happy that they would finally be insured. It is of no doubt that the Obama Administration has brought in ACA with a very noble and optimistic intention of providing insurance and healthcare coverage to each and every citizen of America. However from a public administrative point of view it is essential to think about both the potential benefits and harms of this act on the healthcare economy. The reviewed articles discuss about why and how the ACA was implemented, how the architects are ACA are expecting it to benefit the society and what would be the effects of its implementation. The articles from healthcare journals discuss about the effects of ACA on the quality of healthcare.
The purpose of the Affordable Care Act is to make health insurance more affordable for those who may not have health insurance or those who do, but have little to no coverage. While a vast majority of Americans had health insurance previously to the enacting of ACA, the new law was for people who did not want to buy it or could not afford insurance (Clark J.,
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been a topic of dispute since its introduction and continues to be discussed by politicians in the U.S. and throughout the world even after its passage. The Act has many opponents and is the cause of much controversy nationwide, primarily because it introduces higher healthcare costs for the richest citizens. Nevertheless, the ACA is an important stage in the American healthcare development process as it not only allows more people to receive healthcare services, but will also reduce the deficit. However, not everyone agrees. The policy is controversial in terms of cost vs. benefits, but the benefits ultimately outweigh the costs.
Large populations of Americans are uninsured mainly because of the high cost of insurance. Majority of the uninsured are the low-income working families’. The adults represent a higher percentage of the uninsured than children. Before the law, you could be denied coverage or treatment because you had been sick in the past, be dropped mid-treatment for making a simple mistake on your application, hence, the Affordable Care Act was implemented into law on March 23, 2010 by President Barrack Obama to make sure that every American irrespective of their status will be insured and have full access to proper health care benefits, rights and protection(1). To understand the
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is considered to be one of the most radical health care moves in legislation after Medicare. The reason being that it will provide universal health coverage to everyone regardless of circumstance. An evaluation of ACA’s influence on health care will be evaluated in this paper.
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).
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
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
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,
Many states offer help to consumers with health insurance problems. The Affordable Care Act improves these services with grants that help states start or strengthen Consumer Assistance Programs. Before the health care law, you often had to fend for yourself when trying to find affordable health insurance or resolve problems with a health plan, such as when your insurer denies a claim or refuses to pay for needed treatment. Even though some states have had programs to help consumers, those programs often have been overburdened and underfunded.
With changes to something so influential, there comes positives and negatives. Some positives of the Affordable Care Act are increased access to healthcare, reduce healthcare cost, and coverage of pre-existing conditions. With increased access to healthcare, many people who did not have the opportunity previously, will now be able to have access to decent healthcare. According to the Obama Care Facts websites, “Tens of millions of uninsured will get access to affordable quality health insurance through the marketplace” (2014). Also, previously to the Act if a
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 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.
Throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century the United States has always had a realization that there was a problem with obtaining affordable health insurance. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) also known as Obamacare, was signed into law in March 2010. This law enables people who were unable to afford healthcare the ability to obtain a healthcare plan at an affordable rate. In 2009 a survey was taken as to the amount of people in the United States that carried health insurance. In table one below you can see over 50 million people in the United States did not have any type of insurance, which is close to 17 percent of the population (see table 1 below). “According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, “32%
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is arguably the most important legislation to have ever been introduced for the masses since the implementation of Medicare and Medicaid act of 1965. It was specially designed to address the issues of accessibility, affordability and ensure best quality services in the health care sector (Barack Obama, . The primary problem in the shaping of this comprehensive health care reform was