Obamacare: Why Is This Problem Still Unresolved?

Paper Info
Page count 3
Word count 958
Read time 4 min
Subject Health
Type Critical Writing
Language 🇺🇸 US

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. He is looking forward to reforming the private insurance market and expanding the healthcare range to help lower-income families by signing the document. However, the PPAC act is not working as the public predicted, and it has become one of the most controversial signs during Obama’s term of office. Although the United States is known for its leading achievement in biomedical research and cutting-edge medical technology, its medical system is always at the center of criticism. When scholars talk about the solution to the high costs of medical care, they tend to focus on low insurance coverage, the costs of medical treatment, and the legitimacy of the individual mandate; They tend not to focus on controlling healthcare costs. In this paper, I will argue that the extension of the Medicaid expansion is the main obstacle preventing Obamacare from helping the lower-income family to afford expensive medical care.

The most important problem of health care in America, of course, is affordability. It is very expensive for Americans, so many cannot be afforded it. People who do not work in a job that offers health insurance and support themselves simply cannot spend thousands of dollars without getting sick (Rigby). There are cases where a person cannot take emergency treatment because they do not have health insurance, which is too expensive for them. As the charts show, Americans spent a total of more than three billion dollars on the healthcare industry in 2019, which is approximately 17.7% of the total US GDP (Papanicolas et al.). It is hard to disagree that this is a massive amount and it is hard to imagine how much an average American spends on healthcare.

Obamacare should be a way out of this healthcare price situation. Introduced back in 2010, it has gone through many changes and has been widely criticized. However, this does not deny the fact that Obamacare allows people to spend considerably less out of pocket on health care. The program was created to help people with low incomes in the medical field by providing financial assistance. Obamacare was supposed to create a market for insurance companies to regulate the prices of their services in a competitive environment (Manchikanti). The ACA also introduced a number of reforms, the most significant of which was the ability to take out insurance for a serious illness at a price that was available even before it was introduced. However, despite all these seemingly important and necessary reforms, there were still plenty of problems. As a prime example, we can look at a situation where a person had been living calmly for a long time and even with the introduction of the scheme, the price was too high for them. Despite payments from the government, Obamacare could not fully help people with low incomes. The key factor why it did not work does not belong to its system. It means that it will work properly when all the obstacles are removed, but the program itself is working. It may indeed be a bit underdeveloped, but the large number of changes it has received suggests that the government still believes in it. Despite the American insurance companies’ distrust of Obamacare, it is safe to say that it is designed for ordinary people with low incomes, who have reportedly embraced it enthusiastically.

Speaking of more recent developments, Barack Obama visited the White House a couple of days ago to meet with President Biden. The main topic of the meeting was the already well-known Obamacare program and the Vice President shared his thoughts on the development of the ACA in order to further develop it (Saenz). It is not clear what exactly was discussed, but one thing is clear – the program will be supported, despite a lot of obstacles in its way.

For example, one of the obstacles to this program has been the abnormally low cost of medicine. As it may seem at first glance, this cannot be an obstacle, but on the contrary, a sign of correct operation. However, going deeper into the economic aspect shows that it is more of a snowball effect, after which the economy will be hit by an avalanche of medical requests, and it is far from certain that the government will be able to meet them. Furthermore, as has been said before, the creation of insurance company markets has also had a negative impact (BélandDaniel, et al.). For example, in order to be able to take out an insurance policy, it was necessary to do so online, which is quite difficult for many people in America due to their age and lack of familiarity with computer technology.

However, the most important problem was the ability to opt out of the ACA. As a result, about 15 states took advantage of this opportunity and decided not to participate as it was not economically viable. According to the government’s plans, more than 17 million people were expected to take part in the program, but due to the possibility of opting out, this number has dropped significantly. In order to improve the situation, it is necessary to find a solution that will convince the opponents of the program to introduce it in their region. This could be called a significant leap toward success in the near future. Bringing Obamacare into better shape will make it possible to expect a significant improvement in healthcare in general in the future and to come close to the analogy of Canada or France, where the industry has long been less expensive. Although the road to success is far from over, positive momentum in changing the healthcare system and improving it soon can already be seen.

Works Cited

BélandDaniel, et al. Obamacare Wars: Federalism, State Politics, and the Affordable Care Act. Lawrence, Kansas, University Press Of Kansas, 2016.

Manchikanti, Laxmaiah. “A Critical Analysis of Obamacare: Affordable Care or Insurance for Many and Coverage for Few?” Pain Physician, vol. 3, no. 20;3, 2017, pp. 111–138.

Papanicolas, Irene, et al. “Health Care Spending in the United States and Other High-Income Countries.” JAMA, vol. 319, no. 10, Web.

Rigby, Elizabeth. “State Resistance to “ObamaCare.”” The Forum, vol. 10, no. 2, 2012, Web.

Saenz, Arlette. “President Obama Returning to White House This Week for Affordable Care Act Event with President Biden.” CNN, Web.

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EduRaven. (2023, March 21). Obamacare: Why Is This Problem Still Unresolved? Retrieved from https://eduraven.com/obamacare-why-is-this-problem-still-unresolved/

Reference

EduRaven. (2023, March 21). Obamacare: Why Is This Problem Still Unresolved? https://eduraven.com/obamacare-why-is-this-problem-still-unresolved/

Work Cited

"Obamacare: Why Is This Problem Still Unresolved?" EduRaven, 21 Mar. 2023, eduraven.com/obamacare-why-is-this-problem-still-unresolved/.

References

EduRaven. (2023) 'Obamacare: Why Is This Problem Still Unresolved'. 21 March.

References

EduRaven. 2023. "Obamacare: Why Is This Problem Still Unresolved?" March 21, 2023. https://eduraven.com/obamacare-why-is-this-problem-still-unresolved/.

1. EduRaven. "Obamacare: Why Is This Problem Still Unresolved?" March 21, 2023. https://eduraven.com/obamacare-why-is-this-problem-still-unresolved/.


Bibliography


EduRaven. "Obamacare: Why Is This Problem Still Unresolved?" March 21, 2023. https://eduraven.com/obamacare-why-is-this-problem-still-unresolved/.

References

EduRaven. 2023. "Obamacare: Why Is This Problem Still Unresolved?" March 21, 2023. https://eduraven.com/obamacare-why-is-this-problem-still-unresolved/.

1. EduRaven. "Obamacare: Why Is This Problem Still Unresolved?" March 21, 2023. https://eduraven.com/obamacare-why-is-this-problem-still-unresolved/.


Bibliography


EduRaven. "Obamacare: Why Is This Problem Still Unresolved?" March 21, 2023. https://eduraven.com/obamacare-why-is-this-problem-still-unresolved/.