Affordable heath care act (obama Care) - Essay Example

Affordable Health Care Act (ObamaCare) Introduction Healthcare in America is a very vital aspect that the government ensures for its citizens. However, not all Americans have access to decent and quality healthcare; hence, the sector has undergone numerous reforms to fit into a situation of affordability to its citizens. These reforms have introduced health insurance to the citizens to curb the lack of proper healthcare, especially to the majority Hispanic population. Without this type of insurance, many American citizens would decline medical treatment from hospitals, resulting to the worsening of their condition and later death, a risk to the U.S economy. Reforms in the sector from 1965 by former President Lyndon Johnson to the reforms by the current Obama administration have shed light to their enactment and implementation as well as their receipt by the people. To counter the negativity of the past policies, the Obama Administration introduced the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, whose policy implementation has had disparities to the citizens and the business direction of America. President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law on March 23, 2010. The act has taken the center stage concerning healthcare system in America. It is crafted as the “ObamaCare” due to President Obama’s efforts to modify the Medicare and Medicaid that were introduced by his predecessor, Lyndon Johnson. The ACA’s full implementation is expected to change the entire scope of the health system in America. Due to controversial, political play by the opposition, the Act was contested in the U.S Supreme Court and upheld as valid to the people of U.S in June 28, 2012. The main goal of the care is to provide many American citizens with affordable accessibility to quality health insurance and to reduce the costs of health care to the citizens. The policy requires the health insurance companies to cover individuals with pre-existing conditions (Kayla 2). The major benefit of the ACA is to provide all Americans access to healthcare. According to Nick (2012), the current statistics from the government show that around thirty seven million citizens have no health insurance due to its expensiveness. The implementation of the law ensures a good health system and insurance for uninsured citizens. In addition, the Act will usher financial aid to the citizens in order to provide them basic coverage, through the Medicaid Program or by subsiding the health insurance system through exchanges. These exchanges will be set up in all states, especially for those that do not create their programs as upheld by the federal government (Nick 13; Leiyu and Douglas 20). The Affordable Healthcare Act reinforces normative out of control costs in the healthcare system. The high prices induced by the previous system were a setback to Americans accessing proper health care. According to statements by the Obama Administration, the ObamaCare cuts, approximately $716 billion wasted and implicated to American citizens from the Medicare. Such amounts, as advocated for by the ACA, are reinvested into the policy implementation and Medicaid. The costs previously utilized in healthcare makes it difficult for the citizens to afford health insurance, and therefore, weaken the nation due to rapid health expenditures. The reduction of such costs, which are got from the taxpayers, ensures that the nation’s budget on health is reduced. Insurance companies are also kept on check from proposing unjustified rate hikes that affect the citizens (Janet 89). The Act implementation adds more consumer benefits and protections to its citizens. The stereotype that America has a great healthcare system is a dream to many of its citizens. ObamaCare acts as a security to glaring inequalities in the current system being used. Racial discrimination was often practiced towards the blacks and the Hispanics. It creates an impressive bulwark of new client safeguards and benefits. In addition, health insurance companies had a tendency to drop patients with coverage in the event of their sickness or due to minor mistakes made on the application forms. The ObamaCare also ensures the prioritization of the health of the youth by ensuring that the young stay on their plan until they attain the age of 26 (Janet 91). However, the Act has implicated certain cons to the people. With the rationale of creating employment opportunities and reducing federal budget, the care has and is expected to impact negatively by producing dire economic and fiscal consequences. According to John (2011), the American economists propose an elimination of jobs, reduction of working hours and wages to those in the Act enactment. The Act is also a move to limit the creation of jobs to the numbers Obama Administration wish to achieve. In support of this assertion, the Act penalizes employers for their failure of not accepting the coverage from the government obligates burdensome mandates to owners of small business and compounds the uncertainty that employers and upcoming entrepreneurs of facing a challenging economic climate. The amount of labor used in the U.S economy for economic drive is expected to reduce. The Act also presents negative fiscal consequences by demanding more from the taxpayers, thereby leading the nation to a fiscal condition. The policy relies on accounting gimmicks that facade the true cost to the American citizen and produces double-counts savings from the previous Medicare that are unsustainable to the nation and to its citizens (John 2). This is a measure by the government to get the finances of insuring the larger population of citizens. This fiscal condition is implicated upon the taxpayers by the introduction of new taxes, especially on high-earners. The Obama care affects small business operators as small business. Small business operator cannot full afford the expense of covering their employees as well as the expense of the business. The Obama care has reduce the working hours of employees. Cutting the working time of the employees reduces the level of production thus making it hard for small business investors to afford a balance between the providing insurance services for their employees and investing profits on the production cost. In this case, small entrepreneurs have had a hard time to advance their businesses as the production cost has drastically increased due to the Obama care policy. The Obama care act does not consider businesses with small number of employees, as it is mandatory for all businesses regardless of the size to play the legislative responsibility of generation government revenue as well as providing health and safety services to their employees. The Obama care does not help small businesses financial but just act as a motivator to the employees. The Obama care helps small businesses with less than 25 employees with an average annual wage of below $50,000 to have access to proper medical care thus ease the role of the management in meeting the Occupation Health and Safety policy which is mandatory to all private and public employing agencies in the United state. The big businesses are at an advantage and disadvantage with the implementation of the ACA. According to John (2011), the introduction of new taxes will increase tax burdens to the small businesses, imposing them with almost $500 billion in ten years time. This strategy will make small business reduce their capital and limit, hence widening the competitive gap between big business and small business owners (John 3). However, the big businesses have also undergone massive losses from the provision of the federal government to have owners provide their employees with coverage of the ACA insurance. This has made most of them offload many fulltime employers thus reducing the production potential. Conclusion As healthcare reforms continue to impact on Americans, they are keen to comprehend the implication of the Act to their lives. The introduction of the law and its maintenance by the Supreme Court is a message to the American people that the ObamaCare is a major manifestation on the reforms on healthcare in America. Despite it pros and cons, some of the policies of the Act have already been implemented with other waiting approval of the Congress. It will continue undergoing revisions to ensure that its aim of delivering affordable and quality health care is achieved. Work Cited John ,Boehner. ObamaCare: A Budget-Busting, Job-Killing Health Care Law. New York: DIANE Publishing, 2011. Janet, Beik I. Health Insurance Today: A Practical Approach. Washington: Elsevier Health Sciences, 2012. Kayla, Murdock. Affordable Care Act: ObamaCare. New Jersey: GRIN Verlag, 2012. Leiyu, Shi and Douglas, Singh, A. Delivering Health Care in America. New York: Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2011. Nick, Tate J. ObamaCare Survival Guide: The Affordable Care Act and What it Means for You and Your Healthcare. Chicago: Humanix Books, 2012. Read More