The Affordable Care Act (ACA), best known as Obamacare has indeed reshaped the American health care system as well as the health insurance industry. ACA was passed into bill to redress the national health care crisis as well as to increase the availability of health insurance at a more affordable rate to over 44 million uninsured. This law having over a thousand pages lays down provisions which gives Americans more rights to health care, access to affordable health care and protection of these rights to millions of uninsured. In 2010 ACA was passed into bill and in 2012, it upheld a supreme court ruling which changed the law thereby allowing other states to opt out of expanding access to Medicaid. This left millions without a health insurance as they were required to pay a shared responsibility provision’ by 2014.
Affordable care act (OBAMACARE) added additional options in obtaining an insurance. They Include:
- Private Insurance
- Employer based insurance
- Insurance through government programs such as Medicare or Medicaid or through state health insurance marketplace
Those with low income were given a certain amount of subsidy to help them pay for their coverage. There were complaints from consumers regarding high deductible plans aimed specifically in avoiding use of benefits and to encourage comparison shopping. Though a sound economic theory however in reality, statistics has shown that people will not shop for cheaper care but often refuse it altogether.
A more current provision, prompted by Trump, would allow states to sell insurance across state line so as to promote coverage choices and competition amongst insurance companies to facilitate better pricing. The idea has not been implemented yet, nor discussed.
The provision for a mandatory expansion of Medicaid in state-operated programs for low income Americans has been a contested part in the Obamacare process. The Supreme Court ruled that states would be allowed to decide whether or not to be part of the Medicaid expansion program and Washington DC as well as 31 other states had expanded, while others are concerned about cost. An alternate plan was given by Trump which is to Block-grants to each state.
The block grant was viewed as a way to reduce wasted government spending, but without knowing the amount of grant to give to each state, it becomes difficult to determine the outcome of the number of people who qualifies for the Medicaid program. Also, it’s difficult to cover millions of people under a program based on a certain amount given.
An alternate plan was given by Trump which is to Block-grants to each state.
The block grant was viewed as a way to reduce wasted government spending, but without knowing the amount of grant to give to each state, it becomes difficult to determine the outcome of the number of people who qualifies for the Medicaid program. Also, it’s difficult to cover millions of people under a program based on a certain amount given.
overage and reasonable pricing. As of March 2015 a cost of $1.2 trillion was proposed to implement this law from 2016 through 2025. This includes the net cost of Employer tax credit, marketplace subsidies, expansion of CHIP and Medicaid and revenue provision for taxes and penalty payments but does not include the net costs of other reforms which contributes to the downward trend in healthcare cost and many Medicare related reforms calculated separately even though Medicare occupies a large part of the Obamacare bill.
Indeed, the Obamacare act has done a great deal in controlling the cost of health care in America. In 2015, the growth of health care spending was at its slowest rate and price inflation for that year was the lowest recorded in 50 years. It was estimated that by 2018, a tax f 40% woud be implemented on insurance companies for high cost plans thereby charging over 10,200 for individuals and 27,500 for families however more regulations are needed to realize a long term cost curbing measure by 2022.