Politics and Health Policy Thread, Free Essay Sample for Students

Due to the health care disparities in America, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) which was popularly known as Obamacare was adopted in the year 2010. The Act implicated many people across the ages as it attempted to increase the insurance access with an attempt to cover the gap. It expounded the marketplace for insurance and extensively expanded the Medicaid entitlement (Blumenthal et. al., 2014). The essence of the ACA was to promote accessibility of health insurance, prevent the insurance institutions from arbitrarily going against patients as well as lower the health costs ("Medicare and Medicaid Services," 2017). Since its ratification, more Americans have been able to access insurance as compared to then.

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Correspondingly, it is imperative to investigate the influence the Act had on healthcare costs and disadvantages to assess its viability. According to Kantarjian (2017), the Obamacare had a quite significant influence on health care costs. He notes that before the introduction of the Act the costs increases were considerably lower as compared to when it was adopted. Besides, companies spent over 80% of revenues towards healthcare costs. Medicare expenses on health care have grown 3.6% to $672 billion in the year 2016 (Kantarjian, 2017). This represents an expense of over 80% which is quite a significant amount compared to periods before the ACA. The health insurance institutions normally incurred slightly up to 60% on healthcare (Kantarjian, 2017). Moreover, the Obamacare act also affected the federal subsidies. McLaughin P. and McLaughin D. (2015) posit that in a private market line, the Medicaid and Medicare strategy gave the private insurance entities the opportunity to enjoy subsidized benefit plans. Though, with the adoption of ACA federal subsidies, the benefit plans cost was lowered (McLaughin P. and McLaughin D., 2015).

Notably, not all Americans citizens were aware of all the elements that the act presented. For example, various terms such as high-deductibles, low deductibles, increasing premiums were not comprehended fully by all (Huntoon, 2014). In regards to all these setbacks and technicalities, I would not fully support the Affordable Care Act. Even though I believe the adoption of the act was in good interest to Americans irrespective of pre-existing circumstances; the associated costs are not favorable to the public is intended to serve (McLaughin P. and McLaughin D., 2015). It was a brilliant idea which would cost really much to fully implement and sustain. However, its success would be curtailed by the costs of individuals who subscribe to the same are not enlightened on the procedures and its concepts. In this regard, the costs for health care should also be managed comprehensively. I also believe that the act would have been subjected to public debate and review for quite a significant time to make it more beneficial. In the meantime, insurance companies are at the receiving end and individuals who choose not to take the cover are penalized. More formulations should focus on making the insurance companies more just as well as fairness for each individual since everyone has the right to access healthcare without any prejudice.

References

Blumenthal, D., & Collins, S. (2014). Health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act - A progress report. New England Journal of Medicine, 371(3), 275-281. doi:10.1056/nejmhpr1405667.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (2017). Affordable Care Act. Retrieved from https://www.medicaid.gov/affordable-care-act.

Huntoon, L. R., (2014). Obamacare: Fraud, incompetence, confusion, and higher costs. Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, 19(3), 2-3.

McLaughlin, C. P., & McLaughlin, C. D. (2015). Health policy analysis: An interdisciplinary approach (2nd ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.