The facebook page for Barack Obama
refers to the Patient Protection
and Affordable Care Act as Obamacare, either as an attempt to reclaim
the term or as proof that supporters of the law already have. I think that
moving forward the term will stick as a tip of the hat to the president who
pushed such a monumental movement forward. Plus it’s got a nice ring to it.
Today I wonder to what extent
will the Affordable Care Act benefit the American people financially?
One segment of those who will
benefit that I did not expect are the insurance companies. The PPACA allows
young adults to stay on their parents’ health insurance plans for longer, to a
maximum age of 26. Many young adults who would have lived without health
insurance are now eligible to be covered under their parents’ plans. Young
adults are the healthiest segment of the population, and the least likely to
access care except in emergencies. Insurance companies are making a killing
from the additional premiums for covering these infrequent utilizers of health
care.
The blessing serves both parties; money saved by young adults
covered under their parents’ plans is huge! According to the New England Journal of Medicine 3.1
million previously uninsured young adults are now covered. In 2011 they made
22,000 visits to hospital emergency rooms at an average cost of $7,000 per
visit. If not for the extended coverage of their parents’ plans, those costs
would have either been paid through the nose of the injured or shouldered by
health care providers as uncompensated care.
The final group I’ll examine is low income people. Medicaid,
the health program provided by the U.S. government to low income people, is
being expanded significantly. The standards for qualifying for Medicaid currently
vary from state to state. Under the PPACA anyone with income less than 138% of
the federal poverty level ($14,856 in 2012) can qualify for Medicaid. There are
potentially 17 million new enrollees who will be eligible. However, Medicaid is
run by each sate individually, and the United States Supreme Court ruled in National
Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius that states don’t have to agree
to the expansion of Medicaid, and can instead stick with current eligibility
standards and funding levels. If you’re impoverished and happen to live in a
state that declines, all I can say is, bummer dude.
As far as I've seen, Obamacare is a financial blessing for Americans, both poor and rich. As for anyone outside of the significantly affected parties, they are able to continue with the status quo, so what's to hate?
Sources:
Health Care Collector: The Monthly Newsletter for Health Care Collectors. Sep2013, Vol. 27 Issue 4, p5-8. 4p.
Shaffer, Ellen R. "The Affordable Care Act: The Value
Of Systemic Disruption." American Journal Of Public Health 103.6 (2013):
969-972. Academic Search Premier. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.
I know that Obamacare is a big issue in the country today. For some people. For others, things have not changed, especially to the impoverished. My father for example, 70 year old veteran, has innumerable medical bills from his past, some from knee replacement surgery and laser cataract removal, that he will never be able to repay on his disability and social security. One health care system or another doesn't help an individual when the bills are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. I myself had to go to the hospital last year after I was laid off, thinking I had strep throat. I didn't even sit on their chair for fear they would charge me for replacement paper, or some other rediculous cost. It turned out to be nothing, though they prescribed me antibiotics.For the visit and one culture it cost me $500, which I paid for out of my own pocket. When I had health insurance, I was never sick or injured enough to warrant a visit to the doctor, but then again I never went to the hospital, due to the lack of funds to pay for anything other than a copay visit, which wouldn't cover costs for testing or anything more comprehensive. All I'm saying is it seems more like a business, concerned over costs than for the patients health and well being.
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