By Tyler Burke
Imagine when you were a kid, outside playing, when you fall and break your arm. Now most of our parents would end up taking us to the doctor right away, but for some going to the doctor or any place medically related is not such a luxury. For people without health insurance, which happens to be about 44 million Americans, they would be paying the medical bill all out of pocket. And for those with inadequate medical insurance, which is about 38 million Americans, they would be paying most of that bill out of pocket. As most know, a broken arm, torn ligament, kidney transplant are all extremely expensive. Circumstances like this are what fueled the creation of Obama Care or Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). So, despite common opinion, Obama Care is the best thing for America.
Obama Care is the government’s attempt to help provide affordable health insurance in order to reduce growth of health care spending in the U.S. The reason Obama pushed to pass this policy is the amount of money the U.S. was spending on Health Care expenditures. As seen in the graph, the percent of the GDP spent on health care in the U.S. has increased linearly since 1960. Obama Care is designed to
cost more right now, but decrease health care costs in the future.
Despite the government attempting to give health care to all, many people still do not want Obama Care. One of the concerns that plague Americans minds is the raising of taxes. But, in fact, many won’t pay a dime more in taxes. The higher earners and large employers will be responsible for majority of the taxes. Actually, Obama Care includes the biggest middle class tax cut to health insurance in the history of the U.S.
Though there are cons to Obama Care, there are also many benefits. For example, it eliminates discrimination from the Health Care system. A woman cannot be charged more just because she is a woman anymore. Plus, a person cannot be dropped because they become ill. It also allows people to stay on their parents insurance plans until age 26, and 82% of uninsured adults will qualify for free or low
cost insurance. On top of that it gives small businesses tax credits for up to 50% of their employees’ health insurance premium costs.
The Obama Care plan is circulated around a supply and demand system. Before the Obama Care, Health Insurance companies were setting equilibrium price fairly high. The prices were so high that many people could not afford health insurance. With Obama Care, everyone will be required to have a health insurance plan. With this plan, the supply curve will shift to the right because now the supply of policies that cost less money has increased from this act. While the demand curve remains the same because people still want the same amount of insurance. These shifts the supply curve results in a lower equilibrium price.
In the end, though highly criticized, Obama Care is better for the majority of America, America just doesn’t know it yet. The problem is America is afraid of change, without knowing what the change is. They here about the myths of Obama Care without taking the time to research it. I used to believe Obama Care was going to hurt the middle class but instead it helps the entire country except the extremely wealthy. But
they can afford it. Overall, Obama Care is the best thing for America.
Video Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-Ilc5xK2_E
http://obamacarefacts.com/
http://www.pbs.org/healthcarecrisis/uninsured.html
http://www.aei-ideas.org/2010/01/government-funding-increases-healthcare-costs/
"AEIdeas." AEIdeas. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.
"Health Care Crisis." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.
"Health Reform Explained Video: "Health Reform Hits Main Street"" YouTube. YouTube,
17 Sept. 2010. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.
"ObamaCare Facts: Affordable Care Act, Health Insurance Marketplace." ObamaCare
Facts: Affordable Care Act, Health Insurance Marketplace. N.p., n.d. Web. 22
Oct. 2013.
Tyler,
ReplyDeleteI like the informative video you included. Everyone should watch this for an overview of Obama Care (The Affordable Care Act).
I take issue with what you wrote in paragraph #5 in your post. I would argue that Obama Care is designed to push prices lower than current equilibrium. If prices are held artificially lower (a price ceiling) than equilibrium (according to the law of supply), a shortage of healthcare services could result. Indeed, in Canada, government financed healthcare has resulted in longer wait times for certain treatments/services.
Best regards, Mr. Batterman
Although I haven’t done my fair share of information on Obama Care, I have to admit that I am not for it due to the information I have received. I have heard that it is affordable medical insurance for whoever wants it. It has brought to my attention that Obama wants there to be “equilibrium” among all Americans so that they can afford the same types of things are the wealthier Americans are able to. I thought you listed a lot of useful information talking about the Obama Care and you’re opinions and views on it were very realistic. I thought you did a great job and the video was very useful as well.
ReplyDeleteTyler, I like that you put yourself out there and wrote an article about something that you knew was going to be highly debated. I really like how you incorporated a graph that had to do with just the spending on health care; it pertained perfectly to the article. I do now see the benefits to this program, but I can also see why many people do not like it. The upper class is going to be paying a lot more taxes, this might not encourage kids in college to go for the higher end jobs because they know they will have to end up paying more in taxes once they actually get out of college. Overall it was a very well written article, good job.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on how health care will help the middle class, but i disagree that it will only affect the wealthy class. I disagree because I heard stories about people in Canada needing life/death surgeries and they couldn't get the treatment they needed because they had to wait, and their insurance didn't cover it. So they had to rush all the way to the United States for a LIFE/Death surgery. Soon after surgery she recovered and it was a success but still we have a bigger population than Canada will we have to wait even longer? With a larger population will the free insurance cover more than the insurance we have now, what im really asking is this safer?
ReplyDeleteI have heard things on the news that Obama care is not good for the economy of America. The reason why is because the government spending will be too high and America can’t afford to spend money as it is! The government and taxes payers will need to pay for someone’s surgery.
ReplyDeleteClearly through all your evidence there is a lot of advantages to Obama Care, especially for the middle and lower class. As you stated in the short run the cost will be higher, but the "plan" is that in the long run they will become less. It seems like a lot of Americans disagree because out debt in the short term is ever expanding problem and in the long run every politicians plan is supposed to be beneficially, but many times that doesn't hold to be true.
ReplyDeleteAlthough there are advantages for the middle and lower class, as you stated, a lot of people still don't want it because of the high cost up front. With America already in so much debt they don't want to be spending more. Having higher taxes on the upper class can also cause an argument as to what the upper class really is and lead to even more problems.
ReplyDeleteI, like a lot of Americans, have mixed feelings towards Obama Care. I agree with you, it is very helpful for those that were unable to afford healthcare in the past and it does help against discrimination. Those are some very good aspects of it. But, the bad part of it is the fact that it now affects our taxes. Our taxes were raised and a lot of people are angry about that as well because they could pay for health care before and now they’re still paying more for taxes. I think there isn’t really a way to please everyone, but I think it is good that Obama is trying to help the minority and the impoverished citizens.
ReplyDeleteWe aren't Canada, and we don't have the funds to pay for such national healthcare. Obama is the most terrible President to have ever held our country's reigns and forcing everyone to PAY for healthcare named after him is a tyrannical and unconstitutional act. Sure, it might help the poor liberals... but it's their fault for failing to take initiative and make some money for themselves.
ReplyDeletelol too bad being a tyrant isn't unconstitutional and you have to understand that yes its maybe their fault but again it is the economies fault also they aren't making money. But it's not even about making money for themselves its about making ENOUGH money to afford healthcare which a lot of people can't do. It's easy for you too say because you live in pewaukee with a nice home, family and your life is actually INSURED. But, people who have kids , even babies with no insurance dont have enough money to pay out of pocket if their kid gets sick. How would it feel to know you can't bring your baby to the doctor if they get extremely sick, that's gotta be a scary feeling dont ya think?
DeleteTyler, you did a good job of economically analyzing an issue pertinent to our current political situation. While you did have a strong opinion, you did a good job of properly weighing both sides of the issue by bringing up both the pros and cons of Obamacare, while still making sure that the pros outweigh the cons to support your argument. You properly used a graphic to show how the Government has increased medical spending significantly to fund Obama Care and similar projects. It is good to see that you support something that our European counterparts and some countries even closer (Canada), implemented quite a while ago. Overall good post! My only issue with this is the fact that the nature of this issues controversy is guaranteed to breath new life into the flames of ignorant political squabbles and asinine political party loyalty.
ReplyDeleteYes, even though there is a majority of American's without health care and cannot afford it, it shouldn't be forced upon American's. If the work provider has good health care, and workers would prefer to keep the health care over Obama care, they should have that choice without being forced to pay for things that do not apply to them and shouldn't have to pay an outrageous amount of money just because they aren't at the poverty level and don't qualify for certain things.
ReplyDelete