Question

What vulnerabilities, politically, economically, and otherwise, did the Affordable Care Act face? Name at least six such vulnerabilities and discuss the difficulties associated with each factor contributing to its vulnerability and/or lack of popularity. Describe at least three of the ACA’s greatest accomplishments and explain their significance to the nation’s future health and wellness.

Answer 1

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as the ACA and signed into law on March 23, 2010, was the most significant reform of the American health-care system since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid a half century earlier. As former President Barack Obama noted in his personal assessment, the law was intended to “improve the accessibility, affordability, and quality of health care”.
It prevents insurance companies from denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions and requires plans to cover a list of essential health benefits. The ACA has been highly controversial, despite the positive outcomes.
Conservatives objected to the tax increases and higher insurance premiums needed to pay for Obamacare. Some people in the healthcare industry are critical of the additional workload and costs placed on medical providers. The challenges faced are:
1)Many people have to pay higher premiums.
Insurance companies now provide a wider range of benefits and cover people with preexisting conditions. This has caused premiums to rise for a lot of people who already had health insurance.
2) You can be fined if you don’t have insurance.The goal of Obamacare is for people to be insured year round. If you’re uninsured and don’t obtain an exemption, you must pay a modest fine. Recent events have changed this fine, and beginning with the tax year 2019 it will be eliminated

3) Taxes are going up as a result of the ACA.Several new taxes were passed into law to help pay for the ACA, including taxes on medical device and pharmaceutical sales. Taxes were also increased for people with high incomes. Funding also comes from savings in Medicare payments.

4) The ACA website had a lot of technical problems when it was first launched. This made it difficult for people to enroll and led to delays and lower-than-expected signups.
5) Opponents of Obamacare claimed the legislation would destroy jobs. The number of full-time jobs has gone up in recent years, but there are still reports of businesses cutting hours from employee schedules.

6)Individual mandate. The most legally and politically controversial aspect of the ACA, the individual mandate requires Americans to purchase health insurance or face a government penalty, with some exceptions—particularly for low-income individuals who cannot afford to buy insurance.

It has a lot of positive aspects also. They are:

1)More Americans have health insurance.
More than 16 million Americans obtained health insurance coverage within the first five years of the ACA. Young adults make up a large percentage of these newly insured people.

2)Health insurance is more affordable for many people.
Insurance companies must now spend at least 80 percent of insurance premiums on medical care and improvements. The ACA also aims to prevent insurers from making unreasonable rate increases.

Insurance coverage isn’t free by any means, but people now have a wider range of coverage options.

3)People with preexisting health conditions can no longer be denied coverage.
A preexisting condition, such as cancer, made it difficult for many people to get health insurance before the ACA. Most insurance companies wouldn’t cover treatment for these conditions. They said this was because the illness or injury occurred before you were covered by their plans.