If President Trump Repeals Obamacare (The Affordable Care Act)
Throughout his campaign for the presidency, Donald Trump repeatedly stated that one of his first acts if he won would be to repeal Obamacare. Now that he’s actually been elected however, he’s saying that he might keep some aspects of it. Nobody knows what will happen, but if Trump sticks to his original word and repeals Obamacare, the country as a whole- but especially the middle class, could benefit immensely.
The goal of Obamacare is to eventually reach universal health care, meaning everyone in the country would be covered. It tries to reinforce this goal by requiring everyone in the United States to either obtain coverage, or pay a fee every month they go without (unless exempted). For more information on the basics of Obamacare, watch this helpful video. But in summary, not much will change for those already covered by their employers, or for those covered by medicare or medicaid. The changes come mostly for those not already covered by their employers, as the government will now be requiring bigger companies to provide health care for their employees, and strongly encouraging smaller companies to provide coverage for their employees, through incentives such as tax breaks. Everyone else will have to buy their own Obamacare plans.
Although these intentions are good, there are some holes in The Affordable Care Act- holes that mostly affect the middle class (negatively). For example, rather than abiding by the government’s requirement to provide all employees with health care, some bigger companies could opt to instead lay off or fire some workers, so they don’t have to spend more money covering as many people. This would lead to a higher frictional unemployment rate, and therefore an unhealthier economy, as employment rate is one of an economy’s “vital signs.” Also, the government does not provide subsidies to most middle class citizens who buy an Obamacare plan, leaving them alone to face the ridiculously high deductibles that come with said plans. In fact, according to a Kaiser study, 46% of uninsured adults opt to stay uninsured, rather than getting coverage from an Obamacare based plan, due to such high costs. This is because they don’t believe that the marginal cost of these deductibles, outweighs the marginal benefit of health insurance, which is pretty sad if you ask me. 
Believe it or not, Trump’s goal is also to reach universal health care, he just has different ideas about how to get there. Ideas that mostly involve free market based reforms. According to his own website, Trump plans to implement such reforms as allowing health insurance vendors to sell across state lines, requiring price transparency from all health care/insurance providers, and the removal of barriers that inhibit certain drug companies from entering the free market. These reforms would all provide consumers with more choices, and therefore freedom, when buying health insurance, and support the theory of the invisible hand, the idea that an economy driven by consumer decision making will stabilize itself. If consumers are offered more choices, they’ll more easily be able to find a plan that they believe has a marginal benefit that outweighs the marginal cost, which would encourage more people to purchase health insurance. It would also be true that large companies would no longer have to provide their employees with coverage, which could lead to a reduction in the frictional unemployment rate, and a healthier economy. Overall, the repealment of Obamacare would benefit the middle class, and bring our country closer to its end goal of universal healthcare.
Works Cited:
"Top 10 Things to Know About ObamaCare." ObamacareFacts.com. Obamacare Facts, n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2016.
Luhby, Tami. "Is Obamacare Really Affordable? Not for the Middle Class." CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 4 Nov. 2016. Web. 26 Nov. 2016
The awesome thing about Donald Trump is that he is sick and tired of what Obama has done, because for the past eight years, Obama has hurt the middle class, not benefit them. I was watching the news the other day and they said that Obamacare just upped their premiums by 25%! That is a staggering percentage for health care if you ask me. So not only are the premiums increasing, but that also raises health costs. And the fact that the unemployment rate would increase because companies would rather fire their workers than give them health care would indeed hurt our economy. Not only would it affect the frictional unemployment rate, but it would also affect full employment for the U.S. as a whole. I don’t blame the people that don’t want to be insured because of the high health costs, but it’s a bit of a risk. Donald Trump explained on TV that he was so sick of what Obama has done these past eight years that he is going to bring change, with one of the priorities being getting rid of Obamacare. If and when Trump repeals Obamacare, our economy’s frictional unemployment rate will decrease and middle class families can finally have an AFFORDABLE health care system. In the end, Donald Trump will greatly benefit the middle class because he is done with Obama and his unsuccessful eight years and ready to change the United States and the middle class for the better.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I find it astonishing the amount of necessary detail that is being excluded from this debate. While Obamacare is far from perfect, it is an important stepping stone towards universal health care, a stance Trump supposedly believes, although it's impossible to judge Trump. First he says he might not repeal the plan, then he says he will. He's done this so many times in his campaign that he's not even worth taking seriously.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, the simplistic claim that "because of this, people will get fired" statement that's played so much in this discussion is rather vague. In the reality of Obamacare, people aren't so much being fired, but rather, hours are being cut, in many cases, by merely 3 hours. For example, a person working 30 hours might get cut to 27 hours to avoid the employer mandate For low income people, this means you are eligible for cost assistance through Obamacare. The whole claim that millions of Jobs are being losses is mislead based on a lack of in-depth analysis. However, while Obamacare still has problems that need to be fixed in regards to overall coverage and employer mandates, the good it's done for Americans who've never been able to get insurance, the service it's done to people with pre-existing conditions, and the aid to new adults who can't afford health insurance can't be tampered with.
In truth, Donald Trump and other politicians don't have a replacement plan. They don't have an alternative, and it's ridiculous to hear them argue for it's immediate dissolve. If Obamacare is repealed, millions of people will be left without insurance; their plans will end in the coming year, and people covered with deadly conditions, and whom can't afford the medication, will die without healthcare. That's right, if Obamacare is gone, people will die if there's no backup plan. So, the plan shouldn't be to ultimately end Obamacare, but rather, a revised plan in which both sides can compromise.
If someone enters a hospital needing life-or-death care, I doubt the staff will let them die. That's a pretty dire claim.
DeleteObama Care is not the answer to our burdened health care system. The government does not need to micromanage the way insurance operates. Instead we should concentrate on one of the underlying problems with our current health care system. Instead of spending all the money to the poor, why not spend it on education and jobs so that the poor will no longer be poor? I think education is the most important thing in this country. If we raise bright children then there will be less overall problems. We need to focus less on the poor. The Obamacare has no benefits for the general population for such a large country like ours.I believe that the taxes/funds needed would put the average family in the USA in financial trouble.
ReplyDeleteMe too! Education is so neglected, and I agree that it should be prioritized higher.
DeleteWhile I agree education is important and should definitely be a priority in our country, the "poor class" of citizens is never going to be completely eliminated. That being said, I believe the government should focus on providing affordable health insurance for the poorer class, but no one should be forced into buying insurance they feel they don't need or can't pay for. That's one of the major flaws with Obamacare, the middle class is being taxed for wanting to have freedom with their health insurance. With Trump's policy and more freedom with insurance, hopefully more affordable insurance will become available to the lower class without the middle class being affected so negatively.
DeleteThe free market always benefits the people, the invisible hand guides the market into the correct direction. With necessity based markets such as healthcare it is always important to maintain competition between firms and eliminate monopolies. With this said it is not the answer to create a monopoly run by the government, that will only lead to corruption. Overall it is very important to minimize government oversight, excluding cases of when monopolies form.
ReplyDeleteObamacare was a system that stole from non profit hospitals and made for profit hospitals incredibly wealthy. By repealing the affordable care act, Trump will be able to give the tax breaks to employers who provide healthcare very simply as the employer was in a way already paying that employees healthcare, as well as the healthcare of the near half of America on welfare. by cutting government programs such as these, the united states can thrive as there is a general increased intensive to try and succeed, with the government only stepping in where it is impossible for private firms to succeed such as fire departments, police departments and civil engineering. Because healthcare is an area which people can start their own hospitals and succeed, there is no need for government assistance in the market whatsoever. However, Trump will not let people die if they do not have healthcare. Although we are not sure which aspects of the affordable health care act we will keep, as a wealthy nation the USA will always make sure its people are well taken care of in their times of need.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has benefited from the ACA, I maybe be biased, but I’m not blind to the holes in President Obama’s legislations regarding health care. However, Obamacare should not be viewed as a mistake, but rather a stepping stone, because that is what it was meant to be. Major change is not always synonymous with beneficial legislation. President Trump should use the foundation of Obamacare in order to keep working towards universal health care. Removing barriers for drug companies feels like a rather double-edged sword. On one hand, it may prevent monopolies (i.e. the epi-pen), but there’s a lot of FDA involvement and government funding involved in opening up the market. Neither President Obama or President-elect Trump’s plans are perfect, but they both seem to miss the point of universal healthcare. It’s not necessarily for the middle class, it’s for those who can’t afford health care on top of the expenses of living. The middle and upper classes are able to attain healthcare, but the lower class can’t. Catering to the middle class is smart economically, but the lower class also deserves the same amount of government service.
ReplyDeleteArguably Obamacare was a huge swaying factor in favor of Trump just before the election. Though the Affordable Care Act has it’s many flaws, the sudden jump in insurance costs, just before the election took place, had to have caused voters to vote in favor of real change to this program. Obama Care came in classic Democrat style where government implementation of a system limited competition and allowed many loopholes for insurance companies. Trump’s plan should fix this by letting the free market do its work and allow competition to lower costs. In my opinion (which counts for next nothing) this will end up being more affordable for everyone.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Obama care has good intentions for the country. It wants to help those who are without insurance, and are unable to obtain it weather it because of income or preexisting conditions. However, I do not believe that Obama care is the right way to reach this goal. Obama care does help people, but it also hurts them. For families that have to buy their own coverage, or make their income from small businesses, buying their insurance through Obamacare is not helping, but rather hurting them tremendously. I think that if we find other ways to improve the country's poverty levels, such as providing education and jobs then the health care crisis will correct itself, without the need for Obamacare.However, I do not think it should be removed until there is another plan in place.
ReplyDeleteThe intentions were there, and rightfully so. But the affordable care act, however, is a socialistic stain on America’s bright record of economic freedom. It did not and does not work. The enormous deductibles and the fact that people don’t want to pay them, that they would rather stay uninsured is a testament to that. So now we are left with what to do - do we completely repeal the affordable care act and install previous systems, or could we find a way to reform healthcare in an entirely new direction? The future of American healthcare is uncertain, but we know two things that could help us make our future more successful and clear. One - the affordable care act was a mistake that we can learn from. Now that we know that this system did not work, we can take the problems and brainstorm solutions to them. Two - the invisible hand rarely, if ever, fails. We should build a solution based on that.
ReplyDeleteSure, you can have good intentions but that doesn't mean it always works out. Obamacare wasn't made to cause problems, but it has like you said with the high deductibles and people clearly not wanting to pay them. We can use obamacare as a tool for the future to not make the same mistakes, but create a better universal healthcare, through perhaps reforming the healthcare, or repealing the healthcare entirely and creating something new.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Obamacare had good intentions in the beginning I don't think it has panned out the way anyone wanted it to. Obamacare does in fact help the people who need it, the lower class. However it really hurts the people who don't, the middle class. If want our nation to not only function, but also strive. We can't have a system in place that helps some and hinders others. Although that may happen naturally in the world where some people are better off than others, we can't let it happen throw our own policies and plans. Otherwise we will not strive as a country.
ReplyDeleteAs Mikey said I agree that Obamacare had good intentions but a healthcare plan that benefits one class of people more than others won't help us reach universal healthcare. Our country is built on freedom, and with Trump's proposed business plan businesses will have more freedom as taxes are lower allowing them to invest there money back into the business to benefit the employees and consumers. If the employees and consumers all benefit it is helping all classes of people.
ReplyDeleteJust like everybody else has been commenting, Obamacare had good intentions but it doesn't work as it should. When it comes to the lower class that seriously need it, it benefits them greatly but that's about it. Trump’s plan could possibly fix this by letting the free market to work and allow competition to lower their costs.
ReplyDeleteWhile Obamacare seems all good on the surface, the underlying factors would really hurt our country. People that cannot afford the higher package, and really need it, can do damage to their family. If Obamacare is so great as all the liberals say, then why does Obama have it for himself? Yeah, I don't understand that. He knows that it has many flaws and holes that need to be fixed, but I feel that Donald knows what he's doing when it comes this issue because he can fix the problem without taking so much unnecessary money from people that cannot afford it. I can't wait til he removes Obamacare and fixes the many problems that Obama has put into this country.
ReplyDeleteI agree I think that Obamacare isn't really working like it was intended to. Obamacare only benefits the lower class but no one else really. Therefore it isn't really helping us because it only benefits one class. People do not want to pay the high deductibles and it hurts the middle class.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with everyone else. I do think that Obama had the best intentions of trying to help everyone with affordable care, but there are things that it does, and has not helped with. I think that Donald Trump should put his plan into action because it could greatly help out those who were not involved in Obamacare. I also think that if there were again more holes in the coverage of people that then Trump would just have to fix it and add things to do so.
ReplyDeleteWhile, The Affordable Care Act was a step in the correct direction its not the plan that should have been used. A single payer system based on France's or the UK's would have been a better system. Instead we used a plan proposed by the heritage fountain which was pushed by the Republicans in the 90s as an alternative to Clintoncare. Others have proposed that we eliminate laws restricting insurance companies from competing; however, back in 2010 the CBO estimated that repealing the McCarran-Ferguson Act would have no effect on the federal budget or price-premiums. If there was any advantage it would be incredibly small. As such it is clear that more free market will not solve the problem. Even if prices lowered 100% of American Citizens and residents would not be covered by insurance. Any system in which less than 100% are covered in not a good enough system. Therefore, we should adopt a government run system. In addition, there are 20 million people who will lose their insurance if Obamacare is repealed. People would also not be able to stay on their parent's plan until they're 26. Insurance companies would also be able to deny coverage for preexisting conditions.
ReplyDelete