Question

Was the Affordable care act a good or a bad health care reform law?

Pros: Why is the ACA good? What did it accomplish? Which parts worked well?

Cons: Why do some critics think the ACA is bad? What did people dislike about it?How should it have been done differently? What did it fail to fix/address?

Answer 1

What is Affordable Care Act or Obamacare?

The Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare, is an insurance law (was signed on March 23, 2010) that was enacted to make sure that all Americans have access to affordable health insurance. This has been made possible by offering consumers discounts (known as tax credits) on government-sponsored health insurance plans, and by expanding the Medicaid assistance program to include more people who could not afford health care.

Further, The Affordable Care Act also revised some of the rules insurance companies have to follow. For instance, in the past if someone had diabetes or some other preexisting medical condition, he could be turned down for insurance. But after implementation of ACA, an individual can't be turned down.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has following 3 main objectives: (1) to make a reform in the private insurance market—especially for low income individuals (2) to lend a helping hand of Medicaid to the working poor with income up to 133% of the federal poverty level, and (3) to change the mechanism that medical decisions are made.

Pros and Cons of the Affordable Care Act

Pros of the Affordable Care Act

Within first 5 years of the Mediciad programme(implemented in the year 2010), more than 15 million Americans have obtained health insurance coverage within the first five years of the ACA.

1. After ACA, Insurance companies now must spend at least 80 percent of insurance premiums on medical care and improvements. Though Insurance coverage isn’t free, but now people have a wider range of coverage options.

2. More Americans have health insurance
More than 15 million Americans obtained health insurance coverage within the first five years of the ACA.

3.No time limits exist on care
Before the enactment of ACA, a large chunk of people with chronic health problems ran out of insurance coverage. However, now Insurance companies can no longer maintain a preset dollar limit on the coverage they provide their customers.

4.Individuals with preexisting health conditions can no longer be said no to coverage
A preexisting medical condition, such as cancer, made it rather troublesome for many people to get health insurance before the ACA.However, under the ACA, you can’t be denied coverage because of a preexisting health problem.

5. Prescription drugs less costly
A large chunk of senior citizens were unable to afford all their medications. However, after ACA,The number of prescription and generic drugs covered by the ACA has been growing every year.

Cons of the Affordable Care Act

1. Tax rates have been hiked consequent to enactment of the ACA. Funding of medicare comes from savings in Medicare payments.

2. An Individual can be fined if he doesnot have insurance
If an individual is not insured and don’t obtain an exemption, he/she must pay a modest fine. The fine is itself a burden for poor people.

3. Businesses are decreasing employee hours to avoid covering employees
The critics of Obamacare claim that the ACA 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.