Obamacare

BY  JULIA KONG for GLOBEMED

The Affordable Care Act (known as Obamacare) went into effect earlier this month, bringing about the largest overhaul of our health care system since the introduction of Medicare and Medicaid. Our country is split on the changes to come, but the bottom line remains that the old system left our health care lagging behind that of many other developed countries. Child mortality is twice as high in the US as it is in numerous European countries, indicating significant shortcomings in our healthcare system (nytimes.com). Tens of millions of Americans were uninsured, without access to preventative care or affordable treatment (forbes.com). Prior to the recent changes, they lived with the reality that if they were in an accident or developed a health issue, either their health or prosperity would be sacrificed due to the high cost of insurance. A truck driver, Richard Streeter, couldn’t afford healthcare and consequently didn’t go to a doctor until the physical pain interfered with his work. Since he put off his visit to the doctor so late, he was diagnosed with colon cancer too advanced to treat (nytimes.com). This is a common and preventable situation that Obamacare attempts to tackle in all of its 11,000 pages of provisions (Public Law). This legislation gives almost 5 million Americans access to health insurance, a number that can double if all the states comply with the act (whitehouse.gov).

One of the most prominent changes Obamacare implements is the expansion of Medicaid. Previously, you could essentially only get Medicaid if you were a child, pregnant, or disabled (npr.com). This new legislation expands Medicaid to anyone with an income up to 133% of the poverty line. Furthermore, all plans must cover preventative care, which will subsequently lowering the bill footed by the taxpayers for emergency care.  Another primary change is that it eliminates pricing based on pre-existing conditions, meaning insurance cannot be more expensive for those with health issues or a family history that predicts future health problems. As a result of this addition, anyone that can afford insurance must purchase it or pay a fee. This is a necessary requirement since it prevents people from purchasing insurance only after they have been diagnosed with a health condition, which would be costly for the providers since they now cannot charge for pre-existing conditions. Finally, it requires employers with over 50 full time employees to provide an option for insurance (Public Law). This is more cost efficient for the overall economy since the individual market for insurance is more expensive than those available for employers.

However beneficial these additions are, there are still notable flaws in the plan. One primary issue is that the website’s inadequacies made it a very difficult for many to sign up for their plans, which brought to question the organization behind the implementation.  Moreover, an arguably larger issue is that those who barely miss the requirements for Medicaid and whose current plans are being cancelled will ultimately have to pay more for the same level of coverage. Obama recently announced that these people would be allowed to purchase the most basic plan that is normally only available for the lowest income bracket, but this would offer less coverage than their previous insurance (nytimes.com). Finally, to fight Obamacare, about half of the states in the country have refused to expand Medicaid. This means that the 5.4 million who cannot afford insurance in these states will remain uninsured (whitehouse.gov). Although this is a major barrier to the success of Obamacare, this roadblock is primarily caused by political ideology so it will be very difficult to improve upon.

Richard Streeter’s doctor from the previously mentioned case stated, “…when people come in who might have been saved if they could have afforded care early on, then to have to tell them that they have a potentially fatal illness — I’m very tired of that.” (nytimes.com). Despite the shortcomings of Obamacare, it nevertheless provides healthcare for the millions of Americans, like Streeter, who could not afford it otherwise.