Bethany Owens

8 September 2015

3250:226

Dr. Myers

The Downsides of ObamaCare

In today’s society, there have been numerous conversations about ObamaCare even in recent times. In most recent news on the Affordable Care Act, it is giving Planned Parenthood a challenge. Planned Parenthood has lost a number of patients since ObamaCare was enacted. More individuals are insured through ObamaCare and have become less dependent on cheap care from Planned Parenthood meaning they are losing business and money. The benefits and the downsides to ObamaCare have been debated. The effects of the Affordable Care Act affect everyone in society. ObamaCare is ultimately to get everyone in society insured. The act has changed over the course of many decades. The act can be explained by what it does, how it impacts society, and lastly how it relates to the Hazlitt principles.

To begin, what is the Affordable Care Act? The Affordable Care Act is composed of Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare and Medicaid have existed since the 1960’s (ObamaCare). They were meant to aid individuals who are not able to afford certain care. Medicare helps in caring for the health of the elderly. On the other end, Medicaid helps individuals who are unable to afford or need help financially paying for healthcare.

ObamaCare was signed in 2010 and has been active since then (Is ObamaCare Working?). There are several parts to the policy that include an aggregate society. For example, some of the main factors are mandates. These mandates are for both individuals and employers as they are to make sure everyone is taken part in the act. The individual mandate requires everyone to have some type of insurance and if they can not afford insurance then there are subsidies. The employer mandate requires employers who have a certain amount of employees to pay insurance for these employees. If these obligations are not met then these individuals and employers will be penalized. This is a way to keep the balance for within this act.

Lastly, these circumstances relate to the book published in 1946 by Henry Hazlitt called Economics in One Lesson. The principles in Hazlitt’s book can be related to ObamaCare on the issue of taxation. ObamaCare or the Affordable Care Act includes taxing the public in order to finance this system of healthcare. Insurance companies have a lose/win situation under this system. For instance, there are millions who are not insurance and with this healthcare act the law requires that all living in America to have some sort of insurance including the healthy. It is a tradeoff because the insurance companies lose money when patients do not have to have copay’s or do not have a cap on long-term treatments. In contrast, the money evens out when healthy individuals are obligated to have insurance because the young and healthy would typically not feel it is a necessity to have health insurance. The young and the healthy would prolong enrolling with an insurance company.

To take a further look, the insurance companies get their finances to balance out while the individuals who do not feel it is a necessary time to get insurance lose an opportunity to utilize that money they are required to pay for insurance in other aspects of their lives. These individuals who can afford, but do not want this policy could have used this money for example to buy a bike or to get their brakes fixed on their car. Another downside to ObamaCare is the fact that the insurance premiums have gone down however, they have been slowly rising since the act was established. With these premiums, the quality of care is not what it is in other countries. In other developed parts of the world the quality of healthcare is not as good in America (Is ObamCare Working?). Some areas of the world have many preventative aspects in their healthcare, which is ultimately what the health system needs to be in America. In the long-run insurance companies would save money if Americans prevented health issues from occurring instead of when the health issue gets serious.

In conclusion, the Affordable Care Act also known as ObamaCare has changed society as a whole. This change has occurred by an improvement in the way healthcare is received. This act is an extension to the Medicaid and Medicare. The act makes sure everyone in American society has access to affordable healthcare whether that is through cheaper premiums or subsidized care for the individuals who can not afford to pay the premiums through this system of Medicare and Medicaid. It impacts America on an aggregate basis, it can be describe as reducing the cost that Americans pay for their health insurance, and it is relatable to the Hazlitt principles by one part of Americans are getting cheaper care or a handout. The other part of Americans are having to pay for this subsidized healthcare plan and losing money meaning this law is beneficial to some while the other side is losing money that they could have spent elsewhere instead of on this through tax dollars.

Works Cited

Hazlitt, Henry. Economics in One Lesson. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1946. Print.

Is ObamaCare Working? The Affordable Care Act Five Years Later. Dir. John Green. Perf. Vlogbrothers. 2015. Short Video.

LoGiurato, Brett. ObamaCare Enrollment. Digital image. Business Insider. N.p., 31 Mar. 2014. Web. 8 Sept. 2015.

Mincer, Jilian. "Planned Parenthhod Faces Unexpected Challenge from ObamaCare." Yahoo News Reuters. N.p., 8 Sept. 2015. Web. 8 Sept. 2015.

ObamaCare: The Affordable Care Act Explained. Dir. Keith Hughes. 2013. Video.

US. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Personal current transfer receipts: Government social benefits to persons: Medicare [W824RC1], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis September 8, 2015.

US. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Personal current transfer receipts: Government social benefits to persons: Medicaid [W729RC1], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis September 8, 2015.

Graphs

LoGiurato, Brett. ObamaCare Enrollment. Digital image. Business Insider. N.p., 31 Mar. 2014. Web. 8 Sept. 2015.

Figure 1.

The Increasing Correlation of Government Spending and Taxpayer Money Spent on Public Assistance

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