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The Health Care Reform: What's Best for America

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The Health Care Reform: What's Best for America
Marika Dominguez
U.S. History 2
The Health Care Reform: What’s Best For America

According to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, healthcare is defined as any care, service, or supply related to the mental or physical health of an individual. This includes the treatment, management and prevention of illness and the maintenance of the physical and mental wellbeing of a person with the aid of medical health professionals. This being so broadly defined, one may think that provided healthcare would be an absolute must, a necessity of life, especially for individuals living in America, the “land of the free.” However, 44 million Americans are not able to afford healthcare, the lack of which being the cause of 18,000 preventable deaths a year. The Affordable Care Act, signed into law by President Obama in March 2010, is currently being strongly supported and opposed by U.S. citizens. Which healthcare plan is right for America, whether it be ObamaCare or not, is a controversial debate regarding quality, coverage, and government involvement. Although there are many valid health care systems, because the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) offers assistance to those who cannot afford or are not provided health insurance through employee benefits, and gives tens of millions of low-income and middle-income Americans access to higher quality health care by providing discounts on state or federal run health insurance exchanges, the U.S. is on the right track to resolving the health care crisis in fully enacting the Affordable Care Act into law.
Although the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee the right to health care, universal healthcare advocates argue this should be revised in order to maintain the values the nation of America was built off of. According to Thomas C. Kelly, a Roman Catholic bishop in Kentucky, “Access to basic health care is a fundamental human right, necessary for the development and maintenance of life and for the ability of human



Cited: “America Needs Obamacare,” Wyoming’s News Source, Trib.com, http://trib.com/opinion/letters/america-needs-obamacare/article_060c31ea-237a-5489- b905-8a975913429f.html (accessed 31 May 2013). Countries With Health Care. Digital image. TheAtlantic.com. Accessed May 31, 2013. http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/international/mf%20healthcaremap%20p.jpg. Damon Root, “The 4 Best Legal Arguments Against ObamaCare,” Reason.com, http://reason.com/archives/2012/03/24/4-best-legal-arguments-against-obamacare/3 (Accessed 31 May 2013). Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)", accessed May 31, 2013, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1673534/Patient- Protection-and-Affordable-Care-Act-PPACA. Harris, Nancy. Does the United States Need a National Health Insurance Policy? Detroit, Mich. [u.a.: Greenhaven Press, 2006. “Health care reform debate in the United States,” Wikipedia, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_reform_debate_in_the_United_States. Accessed May 23, 2013. "Individual Mandate Q&A." Individual Mandate Q&A James Capretta, “How to Replace Obamacare,” National Affairs, http://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/how-to-replace-obamacare (accessed 1 June 2013). Kowalski, Kathiann M "List of Countries with Universal Healthcare." True Cost. August 09, 2009. Accessed May 31, 2013. http://truecostblog.com/2009/08/09/countries-with-universal-healthcare-by-date/. Obama, Barack. "President Obama Speaks on the Affordable Care Act." Speech, The White House, Washington D.C., May 10, 2013. “What Is Healthcare.” What Is Healthcare. Accessed May 23, 2013. http://whatishealthcare.org/. "What Is ObamaCare / What Is Obama Care?" Accessed May 06, 2013. http://obamacarefacts.com/whatis-obamacare.php. [ 2 ]. "What Is ObamaCare / What Is Obama Care?" Accessed May 06, 2013. http://obamacarefacts.com/whatis-obamacare.php. [ 3 ]. Kowalski, Kathiann M. National Health Care. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2009. [ 4 ]. “Health care reform debate in the United States,” Wikipedia, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_reform_debate_in_the_United_States. Accessed May 23, 2013. [ 5 ]. "What Is ObamaCare / What Is Obama Care?" Accessed May 06, 2013. http://obamacarefacts.com/whatis-obamacare.php. [ 6 ]. Kowalski, Kathiann M. National Health Care. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2009. [ 7 ]. “America Needs Obamacare,” Wyoming’s News Source, Trib.com, http://trib.com/opinion/letters/america-needs-obamacare/article_060c31ea-237a-5489-b905-8a975913429f.html (accessed 31 May 2013). [ 8 ]. Damon Root, “The 4 Best Legal Arguments Against ObamaCare,” Reason.com, http://reason.com/archives/2012/03/24/4-best-legal-arguments-against-obamacare/3 (Accessed 31 May 2013). [ 12 ]. Countries With Health Care. Digital image. TheAtlantic.com. Accessed May 31, 2013. http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/international/mf%20healthcaremap%20p.jpg. [ 13 ]. "List of Countries with Universal Healthcare." True Cost. August 09, 2009. Accessed May 31, 2013. http://truecostblog.com/2009/08/09/countries-with-universal-healthcare-by-date/. [ 15 ]. "Individual Mandate Q&A." Individual Mandate Q&A. Accessed May 31, 2013. https://www.aetna.com/health-reform-connection/questions-answers/individual-mandate.html. [ 16 ]. James Capretta, “How to Replace Obamacare,” National Affairs, http://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/how-to-replace-obamacare (accessed 1 June 2013). [ 17 ]. U.S. Supreme Court. Department of Health and Human Services. Department of Health and Human Services, Et Al., Petitioners v. Florida, Et Al. By Ian Millhiser. Accessed May 31, 2013. [ 19 ]. Obama, Barack. "President Obama Speaks on the Affordable Care Act." Speech, The White House, Washington D.C., May 10, 2013. [ 20 ]. Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)", accessed May 31, 2013, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1673534/Patient-Protection-and-Affordable-Care-Act-PPACA.

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