Health Reforms in USA - Term Paper Example

Healthcare: Obama Care The rising concern As the major economies of the world, for instance Japan and European countries, currently face problems recovering from the economic crises; the world’s biggest economy – USA – has supplementary concerns too. The U.S. Census Bureau reported last year that 49.9 million (16.3% of the population) were uninsured in 2010 in comparison to 49.0 million residents (16.1% of the population) in 2009. (DeNavas et al, US Census Bureau 2011). Although the recent years have observed numerous health reforms in the gigantic nation, the peak-touching amount of spending on health care suggests that more is, nevertheless, still necessary to be done. Healthcare: US vs China Similarly as in US, China has also seen many health reforms in the last decade, but the grounds on the basis of which the reforms have been made in the two countries differ quite considerably. Whilst in China, securing people from financial shocks resulting from high medical costs was the reason; in America, the attention was focused on reducing expensive emergency care by increasing access to health insurance and thereby reducing the burden from providers’ shoulders. (Powell 2012). The healthcare system of US was declared as ‘broken’ in the 1990’s, and since then the health-related concerns have only risen. One essential healthcare system overhaul in the USA was the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), signed by President Obama in 2010. Since it became law, US has observed great debate on the national level about the ‘Obamacare’ Act; a term coined by people against the passage of the Act who see the Act as bringing benefit not for the citizen but for Mr. Obama solitarily. Similarly, an appeal was filed in the world’s top court for the repealing of the law but the Court on ruled the Obamacare to be upheld – the ruling to which Obama referred to as the victory for the people of America. (Reuters 2012) Comparing the US healthcare structure with that of China, things are much different. Although major reforms have been made and efforts have been put in to ensure the delivery of better health services to the people of China, a vast proportion of the total population still lives far below national socioeconomic average. Of particular importance, among these reforms, is New Rural Co-operative Medical Care System (NRCMCS), a restructure overhaul for China’s healthcare arrangement initiated in 2005. The essential provisions of this system are that the burden of an average Chinese patient is not borne by the patient alone, rather it is divided among the Central Government, Provincial Government and the patient himself, the ratio being 40%, 40% and 20% respectively. The System also takes into account the patient’s choice of hospital/care centre. Ranging from a small hospital or clinic to a modern city hospital, the percentage of coverage of the total patient’s bill varies from 80% to 30%. (Carrin et al 1999) Likewise in the United States, repeated debates regarding the health care policies and its delivery to the general public take place quite often. A prominent debate in China is whether to use the Western medicine or the Chinese traditional one. Whatsoever is the ongoing debate, both the countries need to make sure that they make the efficient health care policies and implement it effectively to (a) lower their health care expenditures; and (b) increase the coverage of the health insurance plans and delivery span of these services. So what actually does Obamacare say? Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a wide-ranging law which aims to reduce the number of uninsured people in the United States and demonstrates a potential to affect the health of the Americans in several ways. The Obamacare Act aims to increase the number of insured people by expanding the eligibility for Medicaid and offering increased tax credits to encourage purchase of private insurance. This is believed to result in reduced burden on the employers and providers as currently in US, providers pay for their employees’ healthcare expenses, even when they do not need it. In addition, according to the Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation, USA the Affordable Care Act “makes investments to expand access to care, reform the health care delivery system, implement broad private insurance reforms, and enhance the public health infrastructure.” (Fangmeier et al 2012). To elaborate, the Obama Administration has passed this law as an attempt to restructure the overall healthcare system which prevailed before the enactment of the Affordable Care Act. However, the presumed clause that caused retaliation among the opponents of the Act was regarding the imposition of penalty for those who chose not to subscribe for the new plan. Alternative to ObamaCare: RomneyCare The Republican leader and the presidential candidate Mitt Romney has opposed the Act and the subsequent ruling of the court, stating that it would only benefit Obama and not the people in general – the basis for the later coining of the term ObamaCare. Competitive to Obama’s Affordable Care Act and adding to Romney’s arsenal against his Democratic opponent Obama, there also exists a statute what’s known as Romneycare: Massachusetts Health Care Insurance Reform Law which was enacted in 2006 and later has been amended many a times. A law that has its paramount focus towards the health insurance sector and which, when initiated, aimed to cover 95% of the total uninsured people amounting to 500,000 within a period of three years. RomneyCare contains provisions which primarily state that approximately every resident of Massachusetts has to subscribe for a minimum level health care insurance and for those who earn less than 150% of the federal poverty level, the state government will provide free health care insurance to them via huge subsidies by the government. However, similarly to ObamaCare, the coverage of premium expenses varies for people on the basis of income: ranging from zero premiums for less than 100% FPL earners to much higher amounts for those who earn around 300% of the federal poverty level. Although, from a general perspective, both the Laws were quite similar in their contexts, Romney still opposes ObamaCare taking a stance that it such a law should not become part of the national policy (Symonds 2006) (Reuters 2012) Predictions Analysts predict that ObamaCare would vastly benefit the households earning $90,000 as they will be eligible to receive subsidized insurance but families which earn less than or around $29,000 will have to wait for their state government to decide whether they are to be included in the program’s expansion. (Reuters 2012) Conclusion Therefore, as evident from the analysts’ viewpoint, support of the general public of USA at large and the victory for Barrack Obama in the very recent Presidential elections, ObamaCare has certainly won many hearts in the United States as the re-election elicits the peoples’ confidence in Obama – and hypothetically, his healthcare reforms. Hence, in my personal opinion, and to quite an extent, ObamaCare will quite positively contribute towards USA’s struggle for better health system. References: Fangmeier, J., Tommasulo, P., Eller, P., Udow-Phillips, M. (September 2012). Affordable Care Act Funding: An Analysis of Grant Programs under Health Care Reform. Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation. Ann Arbor, MI. Fangmeier, J., Tommasulo, P., Eller, P., Udow-Phillips, M. (August 2012). The Affordable Care Act and its Effect on Health Insurance Market Segments. Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation. Ann Arbor, MI. Carrin, G., Ron, A., Hui, Y., Hong, W., Tuohong, Z., Licheng, Z., Shuo, Z., Xuesheng, L. (April 01, 1999). The reform of the rural cooperative medical system in the People's Republic of China: interim experience in 14 pilot counties. Social Science & Medicine, 48,7, 961-972. DeNavas-Walt, Carmen, Bernadette D. Proctor, and Jessica C. Smith, U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Reports, P60-239, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 2011. Powell, A. C. (2012, March 19). Chinese and American Healthcare Systems: A Comparison | Fair Observer°. Fair Observer° | Fair Observer° make sense of the world: 360° View on Politics, Economics & Business. Retrieved November 10, 2012, from http://www.fairobserver.com/article/chinese-and-american-healthcare-systems-comparison Reuters. (2012, June 28). WRAPUP 4-US top court upholds healthcare law in Obama triumph| Reuters. Business & Financial News, Breaking US & International News | Reuters.com. Retrieved November 10, 2012, from http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/28/usa-healthcare-court-idUSL2E8HS4WG20120628 Symonds, W. C. (2006, April 3). In Massachusetts, Health Care for All? - Businessweek. Businessweek - Business News, Stock Market & Financial Advice. Retrieved November 10, 2012, from http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2006-04-03/in-massachusetts-health-care-for-all-businessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice Read More