HEALTHCARE REFORM BILL DOWNFALLS AND EFFECTS ON ELDERLY

Healthcare Reform Bill Downfalls and Effects on Elderly



Healthcare Reform Bill Downfalls and Effects on Elderly

Introduction

Health care reform is one of the most intense debates engaging Americans today and there are many opinions circulating throughout the public and government officials about how to constrain the growing costs of health care. President Barack Obama considers health care reform one of his top legislative priorities, and he routinely uses his bully pulpit to encourage Congress to send him a bill. Liberals generally favor a health care overhaul that involves more governmental regulation and involvement in the health care industry; this includes support for a “public option” or a full-fledged progression into a single payer system. Conservatives generally favor subtler reforms that limit governmental regulation of the health care industry in order to increase competition and accountability among insurance companies, and to limit the power of the Federal Government over America's health care system; they consider free market principles the best place to start. There is little disagreement that fundamental changes need to be made to the American health care system in order to steadily rein in the costs of rising premiums and other health care spending; therefore, what is the best course of action? I propose that through a series of legislative changes—ones that foster a free market, consumer-based approach, and not ones that give the Federal Government broader, unprecedented power over our health care—the rising costs of healthcare can be reversed and lowered to a sustainable level.

Discussion

Regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum, no one can deny the historical impact of this past week with the passing and signing of Obama's Healthcare Reform Bill. Much debate has already taken place and will continue to take place in the coming months, as the first steps are taken to implement this giant Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act bill. Many of the most significant parts of the bill will not even go into effect until 2014, with others slated as far out as 2018. So, needless to say, it will be a long time before the success or failure of this legislation can be determined, and there are many holes to plug and tweaks to make along the way (Langer, E., & Rodin, J. 1976).

The impact of this bill will be felt by all Americans, but the group that arguably engages the healthcare system the most is the disabled community. This community has many faces. The young disabled veteran returning from Iraq and receiving care from the Veterans Administration (VA). The elderly grandmother who has had to experience the panic of realizing that any nonmedical related needs she might have following a severe illness, such as help bathing or safely accessing various parts of her home, Medicare will not cover. With nearly 50 million Americans having a disability, and about two-thirds of these individuals having a severe disability, it's easy for an individual's struggle with the healthcare system to get lost in translation ...