Market-based or Government Control Issues Surrounding Obama Care - Research Paper Example

It concluded that ObamaCare has its flaws, but it can be improved during its implementation by enhancing consumer access to healthcare information and by helping people make the most optimal choices for their conditions. It also suggested financing from wider sources, so that costs can be decreased in the long run. Market-based or government control? Issues surrounding Obama Care Health care continues to be a primary concern in the United States, because of multiple issues of access to and availability of efficient and quality health care.

More than 47 million Americans are uninsured, life expectancy continues to increase because of advances in medical technology, while healthcare costs spiral out of control (Sultz& Young, 2008, p.xvii). Furthermore, Republicans and Democrats cannot agree on the goals and budgeting for the American healthcare system. Their ideological differences also impede the passing of a “politically moderate” healthcare bill. After a protracted political battle, in March 2010, Congress approved President Barack Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), a comprehensive state effort that aims to resolve various healthcare issues.

PPACA aims to somewhat nationalize the healthcare system and to enhance healthcare resources and options. Critics labeled PPACA as “ObamaCare” to differentiate it from other alternative solutions to America's diverse healthcare problems (Shi & Singh, 2007, p.ix). This paper seeks to explore the issues surrounding PPACA. It conducted a review of literature, where many authors agreed that PPACA is a flawed response to America’s market-driven healthcare system (Atlas, 2010; Shi & Singh, 2007), while Herzlinger (2004) and Rooney and Perrin (2008) have different ideas of what the American healthcare system should look like.

They agreed, however, that a good healthcare bill should promote patient autonomy. A number of authors argued against PPACA, because they assert that it is a socialist intervention that does not fit the market-run socio-economic model of modern society and it is a costly and unconstitutional infringement on individual choices and corporate. This paper will now explain the drawbacks of ObamaCare, and one of the main complaints is that ObamaCare is fundamentally socialist and does not fit into the market-run socio-economic model of modern society.

A socialist model revolves around authoritarianism. Williamson (2010) criticized the socialist leanings of the Obama administration in his book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Socialism. He (2011) described PPACA as “socialist,” because it is based on a “central planning model,” with socialist features of “income-redistribution, economic leveling, the co-opting and nationalization of private enterprises and the elevation of an elite planning class” (p.237). He did not believe that a socialist model can resolve the underlying issues of high medical and insurance costs in the nation, and for him, it will only replicate the 1970s British healthcare issues of poor implementation and poor results.

In Health Care USA, Sultz and Young (2008) analyzed the complex American healthcare system. They highlighted the characteristics of American healthcare that evade an effective socialization process. First, the healthcare system is too large to be managed by the state alone: “The U.S. health care system is the world's eight largest economy, second to