Essay on Health Care Reform: A Century of Failed Attempts and a New Hope

Introduction

For almost a century, presidents of both parties, powerful elected leaders, and social reformers attempted and failed to implement some mechanisms that would assure that Americans had access to quality health insurance (Quadagno and Lanford 69). The failure has also left the United States behind considering other nations in providing quality health care. This made it hard for citizens to believe that President Obama would provide legislation that would provide medical coverage for Americans during the 2008 election (Quadagno and Lanford 70). However, contrary to their expectations, when he was elected as the president, Obama ratified the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010 and came to be Obama's significant achievement and the greatest legacy.

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Some of the main elements of the ACA that made it popular despite heated criticism by the Republicans were the subject of fines on workers who failed to provide health coverage to their workers (Quadagno and Lanford 69). Low contributions that would favor the financial situation of low-income individuals, unlike Medicaid and Medicare. A mandate to permit children to be beneficiaries of their parent's policies until the age of 26 (Quadagno and Lanford 70).

The worrying factor is the health care reform ratified by President Obama in 2010, resembles the Clinton health reform proposal of 1993 since both did not include undocumented immigrants in the federal insurance coverage (Galarneau 422). It is a problem since US immigrants often struggle to get documents that would enable them to live or be recognized in the US, and it makes them survive on the mercies of the Fourteenth Amendment. Currently, the majority of undocumented immigrants who receive health care services derive them from safety-net providers, community and migrant health facilities, public health clinics, and outpatient clinics. The migration Policy Institute asserts that in 2007, 60 percent of undocumented adults lacked health insurance, and 54 percent of children of undocumented migrant families were not insured, and only 30 percent of undocumented immigrant staff (expatriates) were covered by employer-based health insurance coverage (Galarneau 423).

Arguments for Exclusion

Several arguments for the exclusion of undocumented immigrants from ACA during Obama's regime have been provided. The opponents of this discussion, oppose the underlying US immigration policy and argue that health insurance should be given equally to all residents of the United States (Galarneau 424). However, the proponents of the exclusion of undocumented immigrants provide monetary and political arguments. From the economical perspective, they state that excluding these undocumented foreigners would save the American taxpayer millions of dollars and would be channeled towards increasing access to specialized care among terminally ill patients, and the elderly in the United States (Galarneau 424). The fundamental political argument to support exclusion is that the inclusion of undocumented immigrants in the health care reforms would encourage more foreigners to illegally access the United States through the US-Mexican border.

Arguments for Inclusion

The proponents have provided several reasons why they think illegal foreigners should be included in the health care reform, like ACA. These individuals can be categorized into three main groups; Catholic Bishops, Latino groups of the National Council of La Raza, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The moral arguments for inclusion are generally straightforward: They reason that undocumented foreigners are human beings with basic health needs and have a right to better access to health care like the American citizens (Galarneau 425). The economic assertions for inclusion perceive this undocumented immigrant as the greatest financial contributors to society through their labor, tax payments, and market involvement (Galarneau 425). The pivotal public health debate for including illegal foreigners centers on the reality that any person's health relies in part upon the health of other citizens.

Conclusion

Despite the ratification of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010 that was viewed as Obama's signature achievement and the greatest legacy, it has elicited an intense discourse on the idea of excluding over 11 million undocumented immigrants. The proponents of this debate, suggest that their exclusion will save America millions of money that will help them reduce the fiscal deficit and also provide an avenue for the improvement of specialized care that is expensive. The opponents of this discussion, provide a moral dimension that states undocumented foreigners are also humans and require quality health care to remain productive in their foreign nation.

Works Cited

Galarneau, Charlene. "Still missing: undocumented immigrants in health care reform." Journal of health care for the poor and underserved 22.2 (2011): 422-428. https://repository.wellesley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1096&context=scholarship

Quadagno, Jill, and Daniel Lanford. "The Obama Health Care Legacy: The Origins, Implementation, and Effort to Repeal the Affordable Care Act of 2010." Looking Back on President Barack Obama's Legacy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2019. 69-92. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Daniel_Lanford/publication/329590148_The_Obama_Health_Care_Legacy_The_Origins_Implementation_and_Effort_to_Repeal_the_Affordable_Care_Act_of_2010_Hope_and_Change/links/5c72ca42458515831f6cbe9d/The-Obama-Health-Care-Legacy-The-Origins-Implementation-and-Effort-to-Repeal-the-Affordable-Care-Act-of-2010-Hope-and-Change.pdf