America On November 7th, 2009 President Obama
Americahas signified itself as the land of equal opportunity no matter the gender,race, or place of birth.
On November 7th, 2009 President Obamacontinued that core American ideology of an equal chance through the AffordableCare Act and Obamacare. With the ACA, Americans were required to apply forhealth insurance with the prospect of reducing national costs allowing morefamilies to afford health insurance. However, the ACA and Obamacare is notfavored by everyone because it can be seen as a forced system to apply forhealth insurance Americans still cannot afford. Furthermore, the ACA andObamacare is not a perfect system but with proper tweaking and management couldbenefit the U.S. and her citizens in the long run. Accompanied by an 8%decrease of uninsured Americans from 2010 to 2016 (Collins, Gunja, Doty, & Beutel, 2017) there is hope in theideas that if every American obtained healthcare, several others will benefitafter.
How does making everyone apply for healthinsurance benefit overall? In many aspects the Obamacare and ACA could hurtAmericans. However, college students benefit greatly from this policy. Childrenin families are allowed to be under the family contract until 26 as said byEllen Goldbaum of Buffalo University,”Already,adult children can remain on their parents’ plans until age 26, co-pays areeliminated for many preventive services like mammograms, children withpre-existing conditions can’t be excluded from insurance…” (Goldbaum, 2013). Giving students time while transitioningindependently from their parents to choose what health care they could affordand want. Additionally, students can easily reserve money and not be forcedinto paying school overpriced sponsored insurance that is offered by theschool. Another aspect of making Americans apply for health insurance is tospeed up medical processes and allow physicians to see patients in a shorteramount of time. Since the ACA has increased the number of patients nationwide,forms and other documents have to be filled out, filed, and accessible atfaster rates due to the growing number of individuals. In an article by theAnnals of Internal Medicine, Dr.
Kocher explains that “Underthe administrative simplification provisions of the Affordable Care Act,physicians will be able to reliably find out electronically whether aparticular test is covered, how much the insurance company is paying, and howmuch patients have to pay.” (Kocher, Emanuel, & Deparle, 2010).Allowinghealth insurance to be applied for all is beneficial in specific ways such asfaster healthcare. However, there can be drawbacks to an allinsured America. The greatest arguable point is the cost of such a healthcareplan and how would the U.S.
afford it? Well that hasn’t been figured out and isseen as a major issue. Over the next decade, it’s estimated that Obamacarewould cost 1.8 billion trillion U.S.
dollars and could increase as moreAmericans apply (Singer, 2015). With an increase of1.8 trillion and the U.S.
debt already being incredibly high, this is seen bymany Americans as an irresponsible waste of taxes. Likewise, younger citizenswould be paying a greater toll in taxes, which completely negates the benefitsof being under a family insurance until 26. Students in general could beaffected later on as being forced to acquire health insurance while in schoolis an expensive toll.
Health insurance is still healthinsurance, a safety net to let Americans support themselves and their families andthe support of your family has always been a goal as Americans. Being able togive equal opportunity to each American and allowing the generations that comenext to worry about one thing less. We should collectively advocate for healthinsurance being more affordable, and less of a strain on our children while theissues that will happen we work through as a nation. Hopefully, in the comingyears America will be ready and her citizens may prosper. ReferencesCollins,S. R., Gunja, M. Z.
, Doty, M. M., & Beutel, S.
(2017, February 01). How theAffordable Care Act Has Improved Americans’ Ability to Buy Health Insurance onTheir Own. Retrieved January 27, 2018, from http://www.commonwealthfund.
org/publications/issue-briefs/2017/feb/how-the-aca-has-improved-ability-to-buy-insuranceKocher,R., Emanuel, E. J.
, & DeParle, N. M. (2010, October 19). The AffordableCare Act and the Future of Clinical Medicine: The Opportunities and Challenges.Retrieved January 27, 2018, from http://annals.org/aim/fullarticle/746295Senger,A.
(n.d.). (2015, January 21). Five reasons to repeal Obamacare. RetrievedJanuary 27, 2018, from https://www.heritage.org/health-care-reform/commentary/five-reasons-repeal-obamacareEllen,Goldbaum Who will the Affordable Care Act benefit most? (2013, October 01).Retrieved January 27, 2018, from http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2013/10/002.html
