THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT (ACA)

The Affordable Care Act (ACA)

Table of Contents

Introduction3

Discussion3

The ACA And Its Shortcomings4

Shortcomings of the ACA4

The Proposal and How to Fix the Shortcomings of the ACA7

State Sovereignty Claims7

The Minimum Essential Coverage Requirement8

Congress's Authority to Tax8

Congress's Authority to Regulate Interstate Commerce8

Potential Negative Outcomes Of the Proposal and Its Political Prospects9

Alternative Choices that Obam Could Make10

The Medicaid Amendments10

The Minimum Essential Coverage Provision11

Conclusion11

References12

Sociology of Health and Illness: The Affordable Care Act (ACA)

Introduction

Back in 2010, largely in response to the millions of people who did not have health insurance, Congress enacted the “Affordable Care Act” (ACA). Beginning in 2014, this legislation—the most significant health care reform since the passage of Medicare in 1965—helped people who were sick or had lost a job to afford medical care. In the meantime, certain high-risk people would receive immediate coverage. It was planned that by 2019, about 95 percent of citizens and legal residents who were not covered with Medicare should have health insurance. Since 2010, there have been many effects of the legislation on health care inequities. This proposal proposes essential amendments to “The Affordable Care Act of 2010” (ACA). This proposal discusses the ACA and its shortcomings. It provides suggestions to fix the shortcomings. It also provides potential negative outcomes of the proposal, its political prospects and alternative choices that obam could make.

Discussion

In March 2010, President Barack Obama championed historic health care reforms that were passed by Congress as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Although it retains the employer-based, private insurance system, this reform seeks to cover millions of uninsured Americans by requiring insurers to grant coverage to both sick and healthy people and by mandating that everyone must have health insurance, with government subsidies to help those who cannot afford it.

The ACA And Its Shortcomings

Whether the ACA improved health care for those people who are currently uninsured is one of the main issue but there are more fundamental questions such as whether the lack of health insurance is a serious problem, whether access to insurance leads to better health, and whether the government should mandate the purchase of health insurance. (Skocpol, 2010)

Shortcomings of the ACA

Many questions about the full impact of the legislation remained, particularly as various elements would be introduced over a period of years. Whether people loved it, hated it, or did not know what to make of it, and whether they were amused or shocked by Vice President Biden's way of expressing it, few could dispute that, in the context of the history of healthcare in the USA, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was indeed a tremendous deal. Waxing historical himself, Obama hailed the fact that “today, after almost a century of trying; today, in 2013, after all the votes have been tallied—health insurance reform becomes law in the United States of America.” Obama considered it “fitting that Congress passed this historic legislation this week. For as we mark the turning of spring, we also mark a new season in America.” (David, 2010)

Whatever its merits as a matter of policy, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (or the PPACA) was ...