Critics of the Health Care Reform Bill of 2010 - Essay Example

Health Care Reform Bill The health care reform bill has been passed by the House of Representatives and Senate in 2010. The bill consists of public healthcare option to compete with the private healthcare insurance companies and intends to provide quality healthcare services and facilities to all the Americans in exchange for affordable expenses (Grier, 2010). White House regards the passing of bill as one of the major historic victory of Obama’s government within the national healthcare system. The bill intends to make the healthcare facilities more affordable to all the Americans by expanding health coverage (http://whitehouse.gov). The main purpose of the health reform bill is also to assure the accountability of the health insurers and to stabilize the economy, federal budget and family budgets. In order to make the healthcare facilities more affordable for the people, the health reform bill provides the largest middle class tax cut that reduces the premium cost for millions of families and business owners that were priced out of the coverage earlier. In this way, the bill allows 32 million American to afford the healthcare services that were not accessible earlier. The bill also plans to insure 95 percent of the Americans (Grier, 2010). The bill also enacts high taxes upon the rich people. Moreover, the health reform bill claims to reduce the budget deficits by over $100 billion over the next ten years and it is expected that this recovery will be over $1 trillion in the next decade because the bill directs to save lot of money being spent upon the government activities, reining in waste, fraud and abuse. The bill also stated that the uninsured and self-employed Americans will also be able to purchase the insurance because the state based exchanges are made available to the people and families living around the poverty level (http://whitehouse.gov). The bill separates the private insurance premium funds from the taxpayer funds and states that the individuals are not obliged to make two separate payments in order to pay for the abortion coverage. It was revealed that it would not be required for healthcare plan to offer the abortion coverage (Grier, 2010). Controversies Surrounding Healthcare Bill The bill has been passed after prolong heated debate in Washington and all over the country. The provisions of the bill are surrounded by the criticism and controversies on several grounds. The Republicans and attorneys general in 11 states have expressed their dissatisfactions regarding the bill that shows the bill has failed to meet the expectations of people and experts of different political thoughts and social groups. There are certain important controversial issues that have become the central point of debate among the supporters and opponents of the bill like issue of death panel, abortion and illegal immigrants’ healthcare facilities (Smith, 2010). The bill is widely criticized on the grounds that it rations and denies the elderly and disabled by a bureaucratic panel that has been given the authority to decide about the health of the patient. This panel is given the name of death panel and people view it a serious threat to the public health and safety (Smith, 2010). However, the supporting side claims that the panel is not intended to make the healthcare intricate but it actually aims to promote the healthcare planning consultation so that the doctors and patients could be motivated to discuss and choose from the available treatment options (http://whitehouse.gov). Another controversial issue is the enacting of taxes for abortion coverage. It is widely argued that the bill actually leads towards the federally funded abortions and ultimately it encourages abortions. Though President Obama has clearly stated in his debates that the bill is not intended to fund abortion but the experts widely view the bill a supportive instrument that allows abortion at federal expenses. The bill expands the insurance coverage to 32 million Americans that were not illegible to receive healthcare services earlier and in this way, the illegal immigrants also likely to be covered by the bill. The opponents of the bill are very much concerned about the fact that the non tax payers should not be provided with the opportunity to avail the facilities provided under the taxpayer-funded health care plan. Though the President spoke about the issue and inform that illegal immigrants are not going to receive these facilities but in the bill, it is not stated that the illegal immigrants are not covered by the new provisions of the bill (Galewitz, 2010. Hence, these are some of the important issues that have created controversies around the bill and general public and experts al large are urging to revise the bill so that all of these issues could be settled down to attain the satisfaction of all the stakeholders. Interpretation/Personal Opinion The bill came along with strong wave of criticism and controversies that has considerably damaged the image of bill and gives the impression that the bill in not in real interest of the Americans. As discussed above, there are some critical issues that have invited critical debates against the bill and opponents have expressed their reservations against certain areas of the bill. The review of the arguments placed by both the sides affirm that none of the side could be regarded as completely right or wrong and there are some issues that need more clarity and explanations in order to make the bill acceptable for all the people. It is revealed that the President have clearly defended the bill unveiling his intentions not to fund abortion and not to provide taxpayer-funded healthcare services to the illegal immigrants but the objection of the opponent side is also valid because this intention is not clearly reflected in the bill and it sounds that the government don’t have clear stand regarding these matters. In my opinion, the bill is well constructed to address the healthcare needs of the Americans and the reforms proposed in the bill are also supportive for the countrymen as a whole but the bill is not properly documented enough to demonstrate its purpose clearly to all the stakeholders. In my opinion, it is very important that the government should revise the identified parts of the bill where the experts and opponents have objections in order to make it clear that the bill is not intended to exploit the rights of the legal immigrants and the Americans at the cost of illegal immigrants. The bill should also clearly state that the purpose of the tax allocation for abortion coverage is not aimed to support abortion at federal expenses. Thus, I believe that the bill is quire constructive and supportive but it drastically lacks clarity due to which it has been surrounded by strong criticism and controversies. The authorities have to assure that the bill clearly express their objectives and tell people which group is going to avail to benefits and facilities and which group is not covered under the bill. Implications of Social Structure Theories The social constructive theories have broad implications into the bill because issues like abortion, public health care, illegal immigration and patient’s rights are some of the basic social conceptions that are deeply embedded within the discipline of healthcare. The reforms within the healthcare sector are ideally supposed to address these issues in adequate manner. The above discussion provides an insight over the Healthcare Reform Bill 101 and it is found that the bill has adequately take in consideration all these issues and different provisions of the bill tell about the intentions of the government regarding the handling of these issues It is also found that the controversies also rise against the bill due to the unclear stance of the government upon these issues though the bill intends to assist the countrymen upon these matters. Hence, it is revealed that the bill needs to be more clear and explanatory in order to become socially acceptable. The bill has to support the areas came under social construct so that all the social groups could be benefits from the bill. References Grier, P. (2010), Health care reform bill 101: How long will reform take? Christian Science Monitor; 3/20/2010, pN.PAG, 1p Galewitz, P. (2010), Health reform and you: A new guide, Kaiser Health News, Today at MSNBC.com, Online at: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/34609984/ns/health-health_care/ Assessed: 5th April, 2010 Smith, D. (2010). Health reform faces big test with implementation, Reuters, Mar 29, 2010, Online at: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62S3L620100329 Assessed: 5th April, 2010 White House (2009), Health Reforms. Online at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/Issues/health-Care Assessed: 5th April, 2010 Read More