Pros And Cons Of Obamacare

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Stephanie Westerman
Mr. Hendricks
Class Name
14 November 2013
ObamaCare: Reforming Our Healthcare System In the 2008 election, Presidential candidate Barack Obama focused on healthcare reform. Barack Obama stated that the high costs of health insurance were, “a threat to our economy” (“History of the Passage”). He made it publicly known that health insurance should be every American 's right (“History of the Passage”). Obama began his journey to establish a working healthcare plan, and succeeded. Now that this plan is on the verge of going into effect, we have heard all the media reports and recently witnessed an epic government shutdown. There are many benefits to this national bill, but the disadvantages are evident as well. Some citizens oppose ObamaCare all together, but since there are
over two thousand pages full of overdue reforms in the Affordable Care Act, it is hard to completely throw out the law rather than revamping it (“History of the Passage”).
In the ObamaCare plan, insurance companies must cover sick people, and this increases the cost of everyone’s insurance (
"ObamaCare: Pros and Cons”)
.
I understand the disadvantage of higher cost for insurance, because now insurance companies are required to cover the sick, but is that not the intended purpose for insurance? The insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage to Americans. How is this bad? Those who were unable to find affordable coverage, or who were denied coverage due to preexisting conditions, can now get the coverage they should have been allotted

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from the beginning. The ObamaCare plan allows for the consumer to not be dropped from coverage when they get sick or make mistakes on an insurance application. The consumer cannot be denied coverage or treatment for being ill, cannot be charged more for being ill, or cannot be charged more for being a female (
"ObamaCare: Pros and
Cons”)
. This sounds extremely fair to me, since I am a consumer who is a woman with preexisting conditions, and I should have the opportunity to have affordable, quality healthcare. In today’s world, the cost of healthcare is outrageous. We all know it does not cost the hospital ten dollars for a Tylenol. However, due to malpractice suits,
the fact that medical administration constitutes about thirty percent of U.S.
health costs, and other contributing factors, this is what it costs the consumer without healthcare (Pfeffer).
Harvey Fineberg, MD, PhD, and president of the
IOM
, said during a webcast press briefing, "How is it possible that we spend more money on healthcare than any other country...and at the same time we do not attain the same results in healthcare outcomes and performance that others achieve?" (Fiore). I must also mention how pharmaceutical companies are charging more in the United States for medication than they do in other countries (Hall). This should be fixed by setting laws that force these companies to charge the United States an equal cost for the medication that they are giving to other countries at a lower average cost. It all comes down to greed and the lack of a unified system. However, one downfall of the ObamaCare plan is the fact that ObamaCare focuses more on making sure people are covered than it does on addressing the cost of care in the first place, which is a major issue. Fortunately, though, ObamaCare should

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help to curb the growth in healthcare spending (
"ObamaCare: Pros and Cons”)
.
Some consumers will lose their current insurance because it does not meet the standards of the Affordable Care Act (Kohn). Some may see this as a disadvantage, but I actually feel that it is a benefit. Experts have put these standards in place to rid American citizens of bad coverage and high co­pays that are being offered to them by these companies. Now, with ObamaCare, consumers are able to get better coverage at lower costs (Kohn). There will be no cap on medical spending. Insurance companies used to be able to cut off payments in medical emergencies, causing millions to file medical bankruptcy when they had met the annual, or lifetime spending caps (Kohn). I am sure it is a relief to many American citizens, especially the elderly, that will have prolonged coverage without worry.
Several Westernized countries in the world have a Universal Healthcare program
(Fisher). Provided healthcare in Canada is basically a birthright (Cooper). What would it feel like to not have to worry about being in over your head in medical bills because you had universal healthcare provided for you? If those who oppose the idea of a reformed healthcare plan had personal experience with universal healthcare, they may change their argument. Why would people oppose a plan that has well­documented proof of success, that allows anyone to get the help when they it need, and that provides individuals and their families with a level of comfort? Some who oppose the healthcare reform may say because of the increase in taxes, or that government­mandated procedures will likely reduce doctor flexibility and lead to poor patient care (Messerli). However, it could possibly do what it is meant to do, and medical professionals may have a better capacity

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to concentrate on healing the patient rather than concentrating on insurance procedures and malpractice liability (Messerli). So, yes, there will be a tax increase, but now medical professionals have an opportunity to give quality healthcare instead of care that a private insurance company has stated is allotted to the consumer.
Because of the overdue­reforms in the Affordable Care Act, the need for affordable quality healthcare, the need to curb growth in healthcare spending, the promise of prolonged coverage without worry, and the substantial proof of universal healthcare working in Westernized countries, it is obvious that America needs this healthcare reform. The main concern is whether legislators will leave the ObamaCare Plan as is or will they make necessary changes. There are experts who have come to the conclusion that healthcare reform is needed. Jerry Avorn, MD, of Harvard, said in an email,
"Whether Obamacare survives or is killed, we will still need to move toward a system in which every clinical decision for every patient is based on the best available science, not on the financial needs of a given player," (Fiore). The time has come for healthcare reform, and, if revised, ObamaCare can provide American citizens with equal, fair, and quality healthcare.

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Works Cited Cooper, Ed, and Liz Taylor. "Comparing Health Care Systems."
Context Institute
. Good
Medicine, Fall 1994. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
Fiore, Kristina. "U.S. Healthcare Needs Revamp, IOM Says."
Medpagetoday.com
.
MedPage Today, LLC, 06 Sept. 2012. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.
Fisher, Max. "Here 's a Map of the Countries That Provide Universal Health Care
(America 's Still Not on It)."
The Atlantic
. The Atlantic, 28 June 2012. Web. 13

Nov.

2013.
Hall, Katy. "Why U.S. Health Care Is Obscenely Expensive, In 12 Charts."
The
Huffington Post
. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 03 Oct. 2013. Web. 07 Nov. 2013.
"History of the Passage of the March 2010 Health Care Reform Laws."
ProCon.org
. 03
Feb. 2011. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.
Kohn, Sally. "6 Other Obamacare Promises."
CNNMoney
. Cable News Network, 04 Nov.
2013. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
Messerli, Joel. "Should the Government Provide Free Universal Health Care for All
Americans?"
BalancedPolitics.org
. BalancedPolitics.org, n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
"ObamaCare: Pros and Cons of ObamaCare."
Obama Care Facts Dispelling the Myths
, 7
Dec. 2012. Web. Oct.­Nov. 2013.
Pfeffer, Jeffrey. "The Reason Health Care Is So Expensive: Insurance Companies."
Bloomberg Business Week Companies & Industries
., 10 Aug. 2013. Web. Oct.­

Nov.

2013.
Weigel, David, and Justin Wolfers. "The Chart That Could Save Obamacare."
Slate

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Magazine
. The Slate Group Division of the Washington Post Company, 31 Oct. 2013.
Web. 10 Nov. 2013.