Obamacare

Obamacare “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we 've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” Those words were famously spoken from Barack Obama during his election period. Following through with those words, he begins to make change in the country. Change isn’t easy, yet you hope it’s worth it in the end. The USA seems to be standing on both sides of the fence when it comes to the changes the President is making with healthcare. March 23, 2010 Obama signed into law Affordable Care Act, or better known as Obamacare. Together with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, it represents the most significant government expansion and regulatory overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965 (www.obamacarefacts.com). Obamacare was enacted to provide affordable health insurance to 44 million uninsured Americans and to reduce the growth in health care spending. Obamacare has done some important things already, such as prohibiting insurance companies from dropping your coverage if you get sick and has been working with insurance companies who will not cover a person because of a pre-existing condition. However, as with all change there are two ways at looking at the new bill. Obamacare will drastically affect the low-income families in a positive way. In America healthcare is so difficult to afford for the average low-income family, Obama has placed the care on a sliding scale. The expansion will cover over 15 million low-income individuals and families below the 133% FLP mark (http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-pros-and-cons.php). However each state has the option to opt-out of providing coverage for the poor. By not providing coverage for the poor, it will leave 2-3 million people without coverage. States that decide to opt-in employers will have to respond by laying people off and making full time employees part time to avoid

References: Shenk, J. (2013, Jan 11). Still nothing certain on obamacare. The Daily News, Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1268753030?accountid=32521