The PPACA legislation, also fondly known as Obamacare, expanded healthcare coverage. It raised the number of people covered by insurance and introduced restrictions on insurance companies in their service delivery. This legislation was one of the biggest campaign promises by President Obama. He promised to ensure more people were insured to increase access to healthcare. The legislation covered an additional twenty to twenty-four million previously uninsured people.[1]. The Act was primarily impactful in the respective insurance field. Some of the changes that the Act brought about include:
Insurance regulations for personal covers. Insurance companies had free reign before parliament passed the Act. They were allowed to limit coverage for whatever reason and even refused to cover specific conditions. The Act came to cure this lacuna for insurance targeted towards families and individuals. The Act prohibited companies from refusing to insure individuals with preexisting conditions. insurance companies could define them as anything and excuse themselves from paying. These conditions meant that many people could not access coverage because the companies wanted to pay as little as possible. Many people with preexisting conditions were forced into debt or forewent medical care because they could not afford it.
The Act also provided preventative care for women. [2] For a long time, women have been uninsured or left out of insurance policies because of gender. It was challenging to get routine care to prevent future long-term illnesses. Some of these care includes cancer screenings, pap smears, birth control and sterilization for women who wanted to, and mammograms that would detect cancer earlier. Prevention is essential to all women’s care, but insurance denies it. This provision is unreasonable because preventing these illnesses would cost the companies less later, but they did not want to cover women’s health.
These provisions, among others, were a game-changer for most insured individuals. The Act expanded the scope of insurance and who it covers. To ensure that they were fully covered. Growing insurance was a positive first step for the individuals who would receive value for their insurance. However, the Act did not solve the main problem of healthcare for all. These provisions offered protection only to individuals who had the means to insure themselves. Healthcare is a systematic issue that should be handled publicly, like roads and libraries.
For the government to put the burden of healthcare on private companies is dangerous onto itself. Healthcare is crucial, and it should not depend on private actors’ hands. All people deserve healthcare no matter how much money they have. Individuals should be able to walk into a hospital to receive medical care without worrying about going into debt or being denied service. Healthcare is a fundamental human right, and its access should not be proportional to the number of finances a person has. Systematic issues should be handled systematically and allocated funds to provide healthcare for all.
The Act also had an individual requirement that all people be insured or face a penalty.[3] All eligible individuals were to register for insurance to spread the risk. Insurance works because they pool risk and share the burden among many individuals. This provision tries to cure the restrictions placed on the insurers. If many people can have coverage by insurance, it will spread the risk, and those who tend to get sick easily can be appropriately insured. Increasing insured individuals is a good initiative, and it takes to consider the companies. However, this is still delegating a systematic issue to individuals. Some individuals cannot afford to be covered, while others are straight-up left out like illegal immigrants. Healthcare is a right and not a preserve of citizens and legal immigrants. As suggested above, the government could quickly solve this problem by free healthcare.
The Act also expanded Medicaid. This insurance program is available for people living below the poverty line who cannot afford insurance. All adults who came up to one hundred and thirty-three percent of the poverty line would receive coverage by Medicaid.[4] expanding Medicaid is an outstanding initiative for people living below the poverty line. It ensures that they are covered, and they can access healthcare. This provision is a double-edged sword. It covers healthcare for only people living below the poverty line but forgets the average individuals who cannot afford insurance. It is vital to remember that most people are one paycheck away from poverty. Thus covering only the impoverished people still leaves another vulnerable group needing coverage and insurance.
Congress enacted the Act in a good spirit, but it has a couple of blind spots, failing to overhaul the system. The problem with the healthcare system is not that people are not insured, but there is a need for insurance in the first place. The Act wants to increase the scope of insured persons instead of providing healthcare to everyone. The Act would be more in tune with reality it took into consideration the problems that healthcare workers face. The first step would be solving the barriers to accessing health as a whole, not merely increasing people who are not barred.
Hospitals need more equipment and more personnel. The first step is to reduce bars to entering the medical field. The expensive tuition and the long process are not feasible for many who lack an income to support them before they graduate. Medical education should be accessible and even free to increase the number of professionals who can attend to patients. Increasing the number of personnel would reduce the hospital’s long lines and atrocious wait times. Hospitals also need funding and updated machinery to take care of their patients. Funding will enable hospitals to hire more doctors, and machinery would ensure that the patients offer modern and excellent care.
The Act was an excellent first step for healthcare for all, but it did not make the healthcare system better. The Act primarily focuses on individual efforts instead of overhauling the system as a whole. Many improvements the government can make include all the stakeholders in the industry. This Act saw many doctors go to private practice and some public hospitals closed because they could not handle the volume after the Act. The quality of patient care also went down because the same doctors are with more patients without improving their situation. It is crucial to look at all angles when overhauling healthcare. The Act was a good initiative, but it is only a first step. There needs to be a complete and systematic change to make healthcare better.
References
Health insurance coverage and the affordable care Act, 2010 -2016, U.S department of health and human services. PPACA, 273, (a) (4)
Minimum coverage provision (individual mandate) American public health association (APHA)
Medicaid expansion, American public health association
[1] Health insurance coverage and the affordable care Act, 2010 -2016, U.S department of health and human services.
[2] PPACA, 273,(a)(4)
[3] Minimum coverage provision (individual mandate) American public health association(APHA)
[4] Medicaid expansion, American public health association(APHA)
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