Health Care Reform: Pros and Cons

Health Care that Works for Americans

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law, putting in place comprehensive reforms that improve access to affordable health coverage for everyone and protect consumers from abusive insurance company practices.

Introduction:

Do you ever wonder how you’re going to avoid your electric bill and how you’re going to afford to pick up your prescriptions? Insurance isn’t available for everyone through their employer. With that being said I wanted to address the matter of why you can’t receive health insurance through your local Department of Health and Human Resources. The minimum yearly income with one person in the household is $16,632.00, a two-income household is $22,416.00, and a three-person household minimum is $28,176.00 (2017 Guide to Medicaid) For example, living by myself while working a full-time job making minimum wage, my paychecks would end up being spread very thin. From rent, electric, water, groceries, toiletries, gas and car insurance not much would be left over to cover the cost of health insurance.

I don’t necessarily think it’s fair to those working 40 hours a week paying their bills to not be eligible for health insurance, especially if taxes are being paid. Obama Care made it where if you don’t pay for health insurance through your employer if offered, you are to pay a penalty at the end of the year when filing your taxes. The penalty is $695.00 per adult up to a maximum of $2,086 or 2.5% of household income. (Health care.gov) It should be a choice whether you want to have insurance or not. If it’s coming from your pocket, you should be the one to choose.

Acknowledgment of opposing views:

Having insurance is a good thing, don’t get me wrong but, most were paying more than $30,000 a year for a family to be insured. People near the poverty line making less than $800.00 a month were getting Medicaid for free. Even at 8.75 an hour that’s well over the minimum of your requirements. Obama care is the Affordable Care Act, which is an expansion of insurance coverage. It also rearranged America's medical costs. Medical costs are distributed, favoring some and asking others to pay more. The Trump Administrations' purpose is to make it easier for Americans to buy cheaper health plans. The less expensive choices, such as short-term health plans, would lack some of the consumer protection created by the affordable care act that allows people to get coverage in the first place.

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The tax proposal that became a new law will also lift the affordable care act requires that every American will have coverage or pay a fine. Economics warns that these changes could further weaken insurance markets. However, what’s important is that people can afford health insurance or be offered free health coverage as long as their doing everything everyone else in America is doing working and providing for their families. Without affordable health insurance, it's impossible for someone to get their monthly or yearly checkups, their children's vaccinations to send them to school, or to even be treated for chronic illnesses. Without vaccinations, you aren’t to send your children to school anymore. It’s no longer a choice.

Supportive Research:

The pros and cons of this ACA (affordable care act) Cons, raised the income tax rate, tax lows for people who didn’t purchase insurance, people chose to pay the penalty instead of the insurance pharmaceuticals had to pay extra for the gap. The pros slowed the risk of health care cost, coverage for preexisting conditions, and children could stay on their parents' health care plans. The biggest benefit slowed the rise of health care costs. It did that by providing insurance for millions and making preventive care free. This means people receive treatment before expensive emergency room services. In 2016 the prices of health care services increased by 1.2% for the year. That’s much less than the price increase of 4% in 2004. I require all health insurance plans to cover 10 essential health benefits. These include mental health which is rather important considering it takes a good mental state for a good work environment and all other things considered.

Personal Stake:

Money makes the world go round, right? A lot of places are federally funded so I understand having to pay because someone has to or else we wouldn’t have anything available to us. I remember a time when I pulled my back out and I couldn’t go to the doctor because I didn’t have health insurance, nor the funds to pay for it out of pocket. I was working a 40-hour work week and taking care of all of my responsibilities. Another example is when I needed my tooth fixed. After the age of 21 you no longer are insured or eligible for dental insurance for anything other than an extraction. In my last injury, I needed stitches in my finger, at the time I wasn’t insured so I had to make small payments which I still haven’t conquered paying the bill. Now it’s on my credit as debt.

Conclusion:

I know we’re all responsible for our own debts, and it's our responsibility to make sure we are making payments on time but at 24 years old I don’t have it all figured out. As the years go by I get more of an understanding as to how everything works but there should at least be free insurance available to those working a minimum wage job with 40 hours a week. It would be ideal if the maximum household income for one person is $2,200.00 after estimating the average cost of daily living which seems to be a reasonable number. Considering all utilities, nutrients, and transportation costs. If this issue is ignored, pharmaceuticals will continue to have to fork out more money for the price gap. People will continue to just pay the penalty during tax time and health insurance won’t be purchased because it is cheaper to pay the almost $700.00 penalty vs. the monthly payment to insure yourself. Again not every employer is offering health coverage, and not everyone is able to find an employer that does offer that as a part of their employment. All that is asked is to reconsider the raise on the maximum household income based on how many are in the household. I remember filing my taxes in 2017 and I was given an exemption to not have to pay the health insurance penalty because I had a shut-off notice through Potomac Edison for my electric. Which I thought was great because if I couldn’t even afford to keep up with my own heat bill what would make you think I could afford insurance on my own and have it all twelve months whether I needed to use it or not? I know for a fact I would have had my flu shots, and other necessary things taken care of had I been eligible for health coverage through my county’s DHHR. I often get tired of seeing how people are suffering from illnesses because they just can’t afford it so I decided to approach this issue based on my own experience. The debt from hospital bills is money I could have saved for other things, the penalty I had to pay in the recent year 2017 could have gone towards another bill that is behind. This matter is important to many and should be addressed. Realistically it shouldn’t be so difficult to figure something out to where it's affordable and everyone’s covered. That would dramatically minimize some of the debt every household struggles with catching up on.

1. “Understanding ObamaCare” 15 Nov 2019 https://www.ehealthinsurance.com/resources/affordable-care-act/understanding-obamacare EhealthHome