The pros and cons of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)
The Affordable Care Act was signed into law by President Barrack Obama in 2010. Its main agenda was to reduce health care costs and to make health care more affordable. It majorly focused on making health insurance more affordable by giving subsidies or tax credits that lowered costs for households with income levels ranging from 100% to 400% of federal poverty levels. It also focused on promoting innovative inventions in health care that improved delivery and lowered the cost. The Affordable Care Act also sought to include adults with income levels below 138% to Medicaid programs.
Pros
Obamacare made it possible for more people to get health care insurance. Approximately 16 million people were able to get insurance coverage. It also made health care more affordable. This is because insurance companies could no longer make unnecessary increments. They now use over 80% of insurance premiums on medical care. Before Obamacare was signed into law, insurance companies used to set time limits for patients. However, after the act was signed into law there is no set time limit for attending to patients.
Obamacare provides free preventive care. It makes it easy to prevent situations whereby the patient conditions get worse and they end up requiring emergency services. Also, the cost of drugs was reduced and more people were able to access them. It made it possible for more screenings to be done. Obama care lowered the budget deficit. This is because it made it possible to get taxes from businesses and individuals. It also reduced the government health care cost and transferred the cost of health care burden to health care providers.
The insurance companies cannot deny individuals and families medical insurance based on any conditions. It also plans to cover 10 essential health benefits such as chronic diseases and mental illnesses. Parents can provide medical insurance to their children. More than three million young people were insured in 2012.
Cons
Apart from its advantages. Obamacare also has its disadvantages. First, failure to get insured is illegal and a person can be fined. Secondly, the insurance cover has so many entities that some of the people may not require, for instance, maternity care. It was challenging to sign up in the portal after it was launched. A large number of people lost their employment-based insurance and most of the private health insurance was canceled. Finally, close to four million people preferred to pay tax rather than get insurance coverage.
Reference
Dolan, Elizabeth M., and Manouchehr Mitch Mokhtari. “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA): Pros and cons.” (2013): 1-2.
Pariser, David M. “Ethical considerations in health care reform: Pros and cons of the affordable care act.” Clinics in dermatology 30.2 (2012): 151-155.
Williams, John C. “A systems thinking the approach to the analysis of the patient protection and affordable care act.” Journal of Public Health Management and Practice 21.1 (2015): 6-11.
