Contrasting the Laws and Policies of Healthcare in Georgia State and the Maryland State of America - Term Paper Example

Compare and contrast the laws and policies of healthcare in (republican) Georgia and (democratic) Maryland state of the United States of America. Introduction There are significant similarities and differences between the laws and policies of healthcare in Georgia which republican and Maryland which is Democratic. Democratic leaders have endorsed various laws on health care plans like ObamaCare which has already being passed by the Congress in to federal law. Generally, Healthcare policies in Maryland appeal to the poor citizens without any health insurance. According to Republicans, the Georgia healthcare laws aim at providing incentives for more people to purchase health care insurance policies. In order to reduce the health policy premiums, the new laws have removed the premium from the high-deductible plans. Georgia health policies also provide tax breaks to individuals and small employers in order to assist the insurance health policy companies to provide incentives to citizens who practice healthy lifestyles like tobacco cessation and regular physical exercises (Atlas 60). Georgia republican leaders have actively opposed the Patient Protection and Affordable care Act with lawmakers taking any necessary action to prevent the Act being implemented in Georgia. The federal law which was sponsored by Democrats gives each state the option of designing and implementing its own marketplace but the federal government has the powers to design a marketplace for states that fail to comply with the provisions of the law. Republican health laws hold that no individual should be compelled to purchase insurance health coverage and no employers should be fined for not providing their workers with health care cover. Unlike Maryland (Democratic) health laws that aim at assisting uninsured individuals gain coverage through universal health plans, Republican health care laws in Georgia are not aimed at helping the uninsured get coverage but reward the citizens who already have health insurance coverage. Currently, the Supreme Court has ruled that Obama’s health care Law is constitutional. In Maryland (Democratic) health care laws and policies require all insurance companies to adhere with the rules of the insurance policies and desist from dropping patients after they become sick or refusing to cover pre-existing conditions. Additionally, the insurance companies are expected to extend the coverage to preventive care like cancer screenings. The health care policies require parents to include their children less than 26 years who have no work-based coverage in their health insurance plans. Medicare in Maryland also receives rebates to cover the costs of prescription drugs. Health laws in Maryland require the citizens to attend free wellness visits with their doctor and other preventive services from the private health insurance like mammograms without any cost-sharing. Healthcare policies in Maryland follow the 80/20 rule whereby insurance companies are expected to provide consumers with more value by spending at least 80 percent of the premiums in improving the quality of health care coverage. Maryland State has already received about $ 5 million to prevent insurance companies from increasing health care premiums since under the federal law all insurance companies are currently required to justify any premium increase by more than10 percent (Shi 57). Maryland health care laws have banned the lifetime limits on health benefits enjoyed by the citizens thus cancer patients and others suffering from chronic diseases need not worry about staying without any treatment due to previous lifetime limits on age. Maryland has embraced the new Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan which now covers individuals who were initially locked out of health insurance due to their pre-existing conditions. Maryland (Democratic) health policies require all insurers to charge uniform premiums to all applicants regardless of pre-existing conditions or the gender of the applicant. Maryland has implemented an insurance marketplace whereby individuals can select the insurance provider by comparing benefits and premium costs of the providers. Low-income individuals in Maryland will be able to receive federal subsidies if their income is above 100% to 400% of the federal poverty levels (Shi 19). In Maryland, insurers are prohibited from charging co-insurance, co-payments and deductibles in the provision of preventive services such as cancer screening and other guaranteed wellness services on the new insurance policies. Maryland requires all insurance companies operating in the State to reveal details of their expenditure. Maryland has implemented strict measures of curbing health care insurance policy frauds like use of smart cards. Companies that provide their employees with early retirements benefits like between the ages of 55-64 years can now participate in temporal programs in order to reduce premium costs. In Georgia (Republican), health care insurance coverage for high risk pool was established in 2010 for people with history of medical complications who cannot be insured in the private market. Georgia mainly embraces group coverage which is offered by employers which is mainly contributed by an employer to a larger portion. Small Group plans for self-employed people starting from two people are also available in Georgia if the individuals can demonstrate their ability to work for 25-30 hours in a week through the tax return documentations. Medicaid programs for pregnant women, elderly and disabled citizens are provided in order to cover the costs of basic health care (Shi 23). Georgia State also provides PeachCare as state children Health Insurance Program for children less than 18 years whose parent’s income his high to qualify for Medicaid or is too low for them to purchase private health insurance in the free market. Since Georgia State will reject Medicaid expansion, individuals and families with more than 133 % will be eligible for federal subsidies. Georgia state have expressed concerns that increase in Medicare tax rate by 9% will eventually increase the number of uninsured citizens in the State since a majority are already paying high medical bills (Shi 39). Similarities Both Georgia and Maryland provide health insurance coverage to citizens with pre-existing conditions. Both Georgia and Maryland provides coverage to the elderly, pregnant women and disabled citizens under the Medicaid and Medicare health insurance programs. Both Georgian and Maryland healthcare laws are aimed at reducing the costs of health insurance and providing more incentives for health coverage. Differences Unlike Maryland, Georgia republican leaders are after repealing Georgia’s state sales tax on medical equipment and devices since ObamaCare will start levying 2.3 % tax on innovative medical equipments from 2013. Unlike Maryland, Georgia health care policies are opposed to the expansion of Medicaid since republicans in the state argue such a move will cost Georgia taxpayers $ 40. 8 billion in tax payments for the expansion. Maryland laws permits insurance companies to deny insuring certain pre-existing conditions under the elimination rider provisions in the insurance policies. Georgia is opposed to Medicaid expansion since this will involve increase in the tax payments by American middle class while Maryland fully supports a universal health care model through expansion of activities and funding of Medicaid insurance programs. Georgia healthcare laws aim at providing economic incentives to citizens already covered under private insurance while Maryland policies aim at reducing the number of uninsured through expanded Medicaid. Unlike Georgia, in Maryland the patients and beneficiaries under Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage have been able to enjoy rebates on prescription drugs. Georgia is opposed to 80/20 rule that insurers spend 80 percent of premiums on health care by asserting that Georgian small insurers will be driven out of business (Atlas 78). Unlike Republican laws that aim at promoting co-insurance, deductibles and service feeds, democratic healthcare laws are concerned with the elimination of deductibles and co-insurance. Maryland has set high federal standards on health insurance service quality unlike Georgia where the standards of quality and benefits provided are flexible. Republican health laws provide for non-ligation approaches to dispute resolution while Democratic health laws have implemented measures where aggrieved beneficiaries can sue in courts of law (Atlas 45). Conclusion There are significant similarities and differences in healthcare laws and policies of Georgia (republican) and Maryland (Democratic). Republican health policies are opposed to expansion of Medicaid and Medicare through additional taxation of middle class citizens and subsidies to government supported health insurance to the poor. Both Georgia and Maryland health laws are committed at reducing health care costs. The two countries offer coverage to pre-existing medical conditions. Works cited: Atlas, Scott. Reforming America’s healthcare system: a flawed vision of ObamaCare. Stanford. Hoover Institute Press Publication. 2010. Shi, Leiyu and Singh, Douglas. Delivering health care in America: a systems approach. Sudbury. Jones & Bartlett Learning. 2011. Read More