Paper Example on Politics And Health Policy

Introduction

President Obama and the Congress signed ACA (Obama Care) into law back in 2010 so that all Americans could get health insurance. Also, ACA aimed at making sure that Americans received medical treatments at a lower cost thus reducing the overall cost of Medicare and Medicaid (Holahan, 2012). These two programs threatened to overthrow the entire federal budget, and for that reason, there have been endless debates abbot justification of ACA. Ever since ACA policy was implemented, hospital bills have become the leading cause of bankruptcy in America since just a single visit to the ER costs approximately 1.2 thousand dollars and a simple treatment of a broken foot costs nearly 16 thousand dollars. Besides, cancer treatment, which has become very adamant in America costs around 30,000 dollars (Holahan, 2012). However, people with health insurance do not have to worry about these high health costs because the insurance covers most of the price.

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The insured citizens only pay a small percentage of the medical fee, which is referred to as a copayment. In America, most people get health insurance as an employment benefit as the employment companies pay a premium, which is a portion of the monthly medical cost incurred by the employee, so it is not very cumbersome for the employee. However, the central question remains, "what happens to jobless people and those whom employers do not provide health insurance covers?" some people are too poor to qualify for Medicaid while others are too old to pay premiums after the government provides them with subsidies. In line with this, I would not have supported ACA had I known the cost implications and the limited outcomes that came with it.

Some Americans citizens make a lot of money for Medicaid although they are too young for Medicare thus they do not benefit directly from ACA and others are self-employed therefore their jobs cannot offer health insurance. In this case, they have to pay for their protection, which is extremely expensive (Holahan, 2012). Before ACA, most people just lived without any health insurance, and they somehow survived because healthcare expenses were standardized. Some people suffered from chronic illnesses, and insurance companies would not even cover them, but that was okay because the rates were reasonable. There were approximately 50 million American citizens without health insurance, and in case they got ill and went to the hospital, most of the time they did not even pay for the hospital bill. In such cases, the hospital charged the patient's emergency Medicaid plan, and this raised the healthcare cost for all American citizens.

Conclusion

Some people may argue that ACA reduced the entire health care bill, but it has only helped people with stable jobs and employee health policies. The rest of the citizens have incurred extremely high health costs since it was introduced. For instance, private plans that complied with ACA have to pay more than before since they have to cover for benefits such as maternity care although they may not need it (Holahan, 2012). Besides, uninsured citizens face cumbersome tax penalties as it is evident when they file for their tax returns. Also, health insurance companies have been canceling personal healthcare plans and increasing their premiums because the marketplace has become more and more unstable. Many countries have only on healthcare insurance option because of the consistent insurance nullifications that have led to decreased competition and increased costs.

Works Cited

Holahan, J. (2012). The cost and coverage implications of the ACA Medicaid expansion: National and state-by-state analysis.