Impact of Obamacare Health Plans on the American Society
Introduction
The Obamacare is likely to have a tremendous impact on the health care industry in the United States because of the fact that it will ensure that all citizens are able to access safe health care. Therefore, the impact that this care plan will have on the society will be felt across all sectors. The Obamacare is poised to ensure that there is fair, affordable health care delivery to the Americans, irrespective of their income since the Obamacare seeks to regulate insurance companies that have been rather profit-oriented. The goal of Obamacare is to control the US health care system. Initially, healthcare providers and insurance companies imposed substantial taxes on their clients, a move that saw citizens spend a lot of money to meet their health care financing (Knowles, Lowery and Schaumberg 420–423). For that reason, the Obamacare has come in to save common citizen from these exorbitant rates imposed on them. It focuses on providing a larger number of American citizens with medical insurance that is affordable. In addition, it is aimed at providing better quality of insurance and health care, reducing spending on health care in the US, and regulating the medical insurance sector. Obamacare deals with the supply side of health care, enabling it to be more available and enhancing processes and systems to decrease medical errors and other inefficiencies.
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Improved Health Insurance Utilization among the Americans
The act is officially known as the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act". This bill was signed into law on the 23rd of March, 2010 (Knowles, Lowery and Schaumberg 420–423). The regulation entailed in the Obamacare has far-reaching effects on American citizens. For instance, at the end of 2014, there is a likelihood that a hundred percent of Americans will have health insurance cover from the Obamacare providers.
The bill imposes a penalty on anybody who does not meet requirements of having a medical insurance cover by the end of 2014 (Liptak 2012). There is an application of a penalty to the individual’s end-year federal modification gross income in case he or she has skipped any month not paying for the insurance without an exemption from service providers. According to some insurance companies, they can sometimes exempt their customers from paying monthly dues in order to keep clients in the program. This is an important marketing strategy that is employed by insurance companies all over the United States so that they can attract more customers.
For people to avoid a penalty fee from the government as stipulated by the Obamacare, they have to put in place strategies that ensure they have to take plans that they can manage. It is done yearly whereby there is an open market enrollment period. During this time, one chooses a cover that is he or she can meet. This has been a trend to help people reconsider coverage in case they have taken one that does not meet all their needs or they are not able to maintain (Cooper 7–18).
This opportunity of choosing a package to pay for within a year is provided once during the open enrollment period. Therefore, one has to be careful to choose a medical cover that they can meet so that they do not lose it, which is a factor that will make subject to taxation. However, there are special occasions where one is allowed to take a special enrollment so that they can handle the scheme they are using. Apart from the open enrollment day that gives everybody an opportunity to change their plan to fit their monthly income and needs, sometimes special enrollment can come in when one has changed life events that need a different plan in order to meet needs of the individual. Some applicable reasons for offering this particular enrollment program include moving to a new place where they use a different health care plan. This can happen when one gets a transfer to these areas or moves permanently to reside in a different location. In such a situation, one is given an opportunity to revive plans in order to comply with needs at a new place (Tesler 690–704).
Moreover, people can service their plans in cases they give birth and get married or divorced. In such case, it means that there will be a decreased or increased number of beneficiaries of the medical cover. Plans are different for each group of people. Therefore, it is essential that an individual changes the plan so that it can include other family members who have joined. In the event of a divorce, one will be forced to amend the plan so that it covers people that he or she is responsible for excluding a divorced person from the list of beneficiaries. Lastly, one is given a chance to change a particular enrollment plan when one loses a job. Most insurance companies take money from the source; therefore, in case one has lost his or her job, he or she has to change the plan. This is done so that they can pay in cash cheaply since they are likely to be having financial constraints in the nearest future.
The government exempts one from penalty during the three-month period of open enrollment. Otherwise, in case a person has missed paying during other months, they will have to face a harsh penalty, which is the fact that has to change the American culture of compliance when paying for their insurance cover. At the same time, the government exempts a person from paying monthly wages in case they have been covered for at least one month by their insurance company (Mettler 803–824). That means they have not been in a position to remit money to insurance companies, but instead it is time for the insurance company to serve its clients. This can be done through hospital bills for both inpatient and outpatient services as provided by different plans. Bills impose significant penalties on defaulters.
In 2015, in case a person does not have an insurance cover, they will have to be charged three hundred and twenty-five dollars per adult. Children will be charged half of the fee of an adult, which amounts to one hundred and sixty-two dollars. The amount is added up to the maximum of nine hundred and seventy-five dollars. Those who have taken silver plans receive an even harsher penalty. It can be up to eight percent of their annual income that will be slashed off to cater for the tax penalty as provided by the law called the Obamacare. Therefore, harsher penalties for defaulters will be aimed at changing behavior of Americans and making them pay for their medical covers. This will impact the health care system positively at large.
Improved Medical Care-Seeking Behavior among the Americans
Most Americans stay at home for a long time in case of any illness, but there are symptoms that can be covered early enough. Therefore, availability of health care to individuals ensures that they seek medical attention more often, hence reducing the impact of delayed medical care seeking. It will ensure that there is a healthy nation with minimal mortality rates and hospital stays since patients will come in when they are in a fair condition unlike the current situation when they come in when the disease has progressed far enough. Such scenarios imply an extended hospital stay for these patients (Tesler 690–704).
Morally, it is right for every individual to pay their dues in order to receive medical care they need. The Obamacare sheds light on the reason why they have to go as far as imposing taxes on people so that they can have health care coverage to pay for their bills. It highlights that in a situation where everybody waits till they get sick and only then pick a medical cover, insurance companies will not be able to meet needs of their clients. Instead, the companies will go bankrupt for they will be spending more than they receive from their customers.
The Obamacare provides a platform for Americans to choose a plan that will suit them and their income. To do so, there has been devised a guideline and the Obamacare marketplace. This guide provides Americans with the cheapest available insurance plans. By using an online platform, most Americans can find the cheapest available quality insurance company. At the same time, an individual will get cost assistance for lower premiums on the platform, which reduces costs incurred out of pocket and checks whether the person qualifies for the Medicaid or even the CHIP. This service has been domesticated for each state. Hence, each state has its own marketplace where people can get all these services.
To make sure that everyone accesses quality medical care, there is cost assistance for those people who do not meet the minimum federal poverty level of 400 hundred percent (Morone 1096–1100). Individuals earning forty-six thousand dollars and those earning three thousand five hundred dollars always can receive cost assistance. This is so that they can also get quality health care and live a quality life (Mettler 803–824). President Obama says that over eighty-five percent of Americans experience the burden of what the program has to offer already. He, therefore, insists that the Obamacare with its packages will make the insurance industry better managed. More so, it will be able to meet people’s health care needs with ease and with minimal exploitation from insurance companies that want to make money.
Quality Services from the Insurance Industry
The Obamacare protects clients by ensuring that there is elimination of annual limits and mandatory covering of preexisting conditions. This will be a significant advantage for the American society. In most instances, companies would put a limit on the amount they could use on somebody per year for various plans. This has been scrapped off by the Obamacare, allowing individuals to get optimal care no matter how much it will cost. Of course, the cost will always be manageable as clients will get care according to their servicing plans. At the same time, most companies have rules that they do not cover patients’ conditions that have preexisted prior to taking their projects.
Therefore, they have to get off-the-pocket cost to pay for these circumstances. In the Obamacare plan, this has been mitigated by the fact that the Obamacare provides clients with an opportunity to receive medical care despite the state in which the company has taken them in. The Obamacare will then act towards improving health care for people by providing improved preventive and wellness services, hence reducing frequency of illnesses and ensuring that there is provision of up-to-standard health care coverage for Americans (Tesler 690–704). At the same time, the Obamacare protects Americans from discrimination in terms of care plans based on their gender or pre-existing conditions. This cover is essential for most people who have been deprived of their medical cover because they have developed more complications related to a preexisting condition.
Moreover, this plan provides health care to millions of Americans who have low income. It does so by ensuring that there are discounts in the insurance marketplace. Therefore, this plan stipulates that everybody should get quality health care despite the fact that one is earning less money. In the market, there is a cost-assistance package that helps in coping up with defects experienced in terms of these clients’ income. Access to health care is no longer controlled by insurance companies; therefore, the Obamacare can help any legal resident of the United States. These residents must be those who cannot get such payments from their employees. The plan offers a better legal standing against insurance companies so that they do not drop a person when he or she is sick or gets life-time limits like cancer. The Obamacare levies all taxes except for the health care mandate of people or families that make less than two hundred thousand dollars or a family that makes less than $250,000 a year (Cooper 7–18).
At the same time, Medicaid has been expanded to more than fifteen million uninsured US low-income earners. The government has taken part in ensuring that low-income earners receive medical care that is adequate and prompt. The health care bill will ensure that health care delivery complies with minimum standards (Knowles, Lowery and Schaumberg 420–423). It will ensure that there is justice in the provision of care to clients. Thus, impact of this bill on the American society is revolutionary as it will see the American society develop one of the best health care systems with each person being treated with utmost care irrespective of social or economic background.
Conclusion
After implementation of the Obamacare, the US will experience an improved health care system that will be well-financed and will at the same time provide quality health care. The US government has come in to help lower income earners to receive quality care as well. This will further go a long way in reducing mortality rate that is associated with poor health care seeking behavior of individuals with low income. Injustices experienced by Americans from insurance providers will be mitigated by the fact that now the government provides for the legal standpoint from which they can be challenged.
As the Obamacare is implemented, there will be no more cases of people being dropped by insurance companies for the fact that they have developed life-limiting conditions. This will instill discipline among health care providers, hence ensuring that all people receive optimal care. At the same time, the issue of imposing penalties on defaulters of insurance company’s remittances will instill discipline among citizens. This will ensure that they comply with payments to allocate an adequate amount of cash for companies to provide care to their clients
