Obamacare Case

What is it, and what does it mean to American Health Care? Obamacare "is a national health care plan aimed at reforming the American health care system" (ObamaCare). Its main focus is accommodating the health insurance industry and decreasing the money spent in health care. The goal is to provide affordable health insurance to all Americans and to ultimately reduce health care cost. This essay will explain the issues with Obamacare, along with the pros and cons of the health care policy.

Obamacare has generated a mixture of controversy regarding its effectiveness, overall cost and potential impact on the United States debt. This program will be the largest tax increase in history. An employer and employee will see tax increases like the individual mandate tax, employer mandate tax, investment income surtax, Medicare payroll tax, special kid's tax, and the medical device sales tax. With these tax increases the private sector is already struggling, but the tax hikes are only one class of multiple problems facing the Obamacare plan. This plan will be one of the biggest government spending programs in history. How can our country afford to spend over $1trillion-plus when we're already on the verge of bankrupting our children's future.

Obamacare has many pros and offers several benefits for the individual patient, families, and medical practices. The plan will offer benefits for people regardless of income, health condition, age and gender. Patients will no longer be denied healthcare coverage due to pre-existing conditions like cancer or having a disability. We will be able to choose our own doctor and primary care provider without requiring a referral. Parents can now include coverage for their children up to the age of 26 on their policy. Women will not be charged higher premiums than men; gender rating becomes illegal in 2014 on all individual and group plans.

Some of the cons include people who do not purchase insurance, and do not qualify for Medicaid or subsidies, will be penalized $95 or 1% income, whichever is higher. In 2015 it will increase to $325 and in 2016 $695. Millions of people will end up paying the penalty rather than purchasing healthcare. If this happens the penalties will be over a billion dollars. Taxes will be raised on individuals who make $200,000 and on couples filing jointly with income higher than $250,000. This will allow pharmaceutical companies to pay an extra $84.8 billion in fees over the next ten years to close the gap in Medicare Part D. This will lead to the cost of drugs being on a horizon. In my opinion I believe this system will cause plenty of stress on everyone whether it's a business or individual purchasing health care plan. This will cause a lot of people to be placed on waiting list to see the doctor and maybe miss the opportunity to actually have a one to one patient and doctor relationship.

Obamacare is based on adding millions of Americans