President Obama and the Republicans are really engaging in a bitter war against both sides when it comes to the topic of health insurance for Americans. This research paper will discuss the major issues that exist between the Republicans and President Obama with the Affordable Care Act. I will compare the pros and the cons of the new law. I will explore who will benefit from this law in which has been nicknamed as “Obamacare”. Why are the Republicans fighting so hard to stop this law? How much will it cost the government?
Republicans’ stand
There were claims that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) 2010 would create new jobs and reduce federal budget deficits among other health benefits. It is argued in a Republican Report that the health care law will not achieve any of these. Economic consequences: Instead of job creation, the new healthcare law will eliminate jobs, reduce working hours and resultant wages, and affect future job creation as forecast by learned economists. It is because, the new law will penalize employers for not offering coverage to employees. Small businesses are expected to comply with burdensome mandates besides voluminous paper work. It adds to the uncertainty the employers and entrepreneurs already face in the challenging economic conditions. The new law will reduce amount of labour used in the economy by half a percent which means 650,000 lost jobs. Nation’s largest small business association, National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) claims that employer mandate will eliminate 1.6 million jobs that includes 66% of jobs in small businesses as against the govt’s claim of the health care law’s potential of creating 4 million jobs in its life time and 400,000jobs immediately. Fiscal consequences: The new law will cost tax payers more than originally estimated and it is likely to aggravate the nation’s critical fiscal condition. The government employs accounting gimmicks to cover up true cost to tax payers. Double-counts savings from Medicare are unsustainable. Government has to spend additionally to implement the new health care scheme as much as $ 2.6 trillion on full implementation and it will add $ 701 million to the fiscal deficit in the first ten years of the scheme contrary what President Obama promised that not a single dollar will be added to the deficit. Tax increase will be over $ 500 billion in the next ten years major portion of which fall on small business owners thus resulting in capital erosion, limited economic growth and limited hiring of new employees. Medicare payroll tax will affect small businesses employing millions of Americans. The bill will levy a tax of $ 2,000 per employee on employers with more than 50 employees that do not provide health insurance. It will also tax employers offering health coverage considered as not affordable by the government. Ultimately, the new tax on employers will be passed on to employees in the form of reduced wages. Since less than 50-employee strength will not attract tax, employers with more than 50 employees will have to cut down the strength or face additional taxes of $ 44,000 for just a strength of 52 employees considering exemption for the first 30 employees. An employer providing coverage and receiving subsidized coverage will have to pay $ 3,000 penalty per full-time employee working at least four days in a week. Low wage employees will be the worst affected since employers owning restaurants etc will hesitate to recruit low-wage workers for whom tax paid cannot be passed on unlike in the case of higher wages employees. Therefore, the new health care law should be repealed and practical reforms should be introduced to reduce costs and protect jobs .
President Obama’s stand
The Affordable Care Act (patient’s bill of rights) signed on March 23 is a guarantee to protect consumers from the possible abuses by the insurance industry. Americans will receive preventive services free of cost. 15 covered preventive services for adults such as (alphabetical order) Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm screening etc , 22 covered preventive services for women including pregnant women such as Anemia screening etc(alphabetical order), and 26 covered preventive services such as Autism screening etc. (alphabetical order) Care Organizations and other programs are made accountable to help doctors and health care providers to deliver better health care. From 2014, all Americans will be able to opt for affordable health insurance options by which the marketplace will allow individuals and small businesses to compare health plans on a level playing field. Tax credits will be available for middle and low-income families to cover significant portion of coverage. Expansion of Medicaid programs seeks to cover more low-income Americans families. All these measures will bring millions of people hitherto uninsured into the scheme enabling them to gain coverage. About 4 million small businesses are eligible to avail tax credits for providing insurance benefits to their workers to the extent of 35 % of their contributions towards health insurance to employees. And 25 % tax credit is available to small non-profit organizations. 4 million seniors expected to reach the gap in Medicare prescription drug coverage known as “donut hole” each year will receive one-time tax-free $ 250 rebate by cash payments (through checks, not in kind). Americans who could not insure themselves due to pre-existing illnesses will be able to now avail of the new coverage options. Young adults will be allowed to stay on with their parents’ plans until the age of 26. Health insurance companies cannot hike their insurance premium rates without proper justification being explained to the authorities. States are eligible to receive $ 250 million in new grants for subsidizing the insurance companies. Insurance companies with unjustified premium increase cannot participate in the new health insurance scheme. These measures are not exhaustive but are the indicators of undeniable facts of benefits being contemplated to the consumers.
Republicans’ stand
Republicans insist that Congress should fund the government without the Affordable Care Act. (Obamacare) It has been admitted that Obamacare has failed. Lead Senator’s Democrat Max Baucus has criticized Obamacare as “huge train wreck”. Trade unions protest that the Obamacare will destroy the 40 hour a week tradition which is the backbone of the American middle class. This will affect the health and wellbeing of millions of hardworking Americans. The employees union of the IRS who are themselves enforcers of the Obamacare wants exemption for their members from Obamacare participation. The support of the Democrats for Obamacare is 46 % in July 2013 as against 74 % in 2010. President Obama himself admitted to failure of the Act when he postponed the employer mandate and waived verification of the eligibility for government subsides. This will also spare corporations from the pain until after the next elections. A June 2013 poll of NBC News reveals that 49 % of the respondents has expressed that Obama care is a bad idea as against only 37 % think that Obamacare is good. Republicans sought to defund Obamacare through the Continuing Resolution (CR) that was about expire in September 30 last. The republicans nearly staged a government shutdown in the October last. The red herring relied on by the opponents is the CRS report that concludes that Obamacare will receive funding through a temporary shutdown. The opponents argue that failure to defund Obamacare will reduce labour force by 800,000 by the next decade. 41 % of small business owners have already delayed hiring of new employees. A survey by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has found that 71 % of small business owners are unable to hire workers because of Obamacare burden. The new law requiring employers with 50 or more full-time workers working for at least 30 hours a week to comply with Obamacare or pay fine, only encourages part-time employment. As of July 2013, 8.2 millions of Americans worked on part-time basis. 77 % of the positions added to workforce during 2013 were only part-time. This results in more number of poverty-stricken part time employees which is 16.3 % as against only 2 % for full time employees. Obamacare forces enforcement of twenty new and increase in existing taxes resulting in a trillion dollars. 35 million of Americans are expected to lose their employer-sponsored scheme. 30 % of the employers have already confirmed that they would stop offering insurance from 2014 onwards. The cost of average family premiums has increased by more than $ 3,000 since 2008. 21 to 29 % of young American of age 21-29 years earning more than $ 16,000 will have to pay for out of packet coverage more than what they currently pay. Waiting times at the hospitals are likely to increase as there is going to be an increase of additional emergency room visits of 848,000 to 901,000 through addition of 34 million additional people. 31million people will be deprived of insurance after Obamacare’s full implementation.
Supreme Court decision
The U.S. Supreme Court decision has upheld the validity of Affordable Care Act. Yet there is no guarantee that Obamacare will be fully implemented. Sensible way to offer universal healthcare at an affordable cost is through a system that envisages implementation by a non-profit single payer .
Republicans’ stand
Obamacare results in health spending by $ 7,450 by a typical family of four amounting to 621 billion in the aggregate. This is in contrast to the saving of $ 2,500 promised by President Obama as a candidate. Medicare actuaries have demonstrated that ACA would hike the health spending faster than in other OECD countries.
President Obama’s stand
California was the first state to impalement the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The state has agreed to expand Medicaid coverage. It has established its own market place called Covered California to enable individuals and businesses to shop for health insurance from next year onwards. It has been admitted that California has a lifetime opportunity to increase access to health insurance. As time is of the essence, it has been urged that California should respond immediately to avail of the federal funding for horizontal integration infrastructure by 2015.
The ACA is likely to have dramatic increase in the access to non-fertility-based care. The changes to the healthcare are welcome and medical field’s leaders must engage lawmakers and private insurance industry to achieve maximum benefits for patients.
Conclusion
There is no denying the fact that Affordable Care Act‘s provisions are well intentioned although cost of the proposed healthcare is debated to be prohibitive. The cost might have become so prohibitive because of the accumulated cost over a period of long-outstanding health care reforms. Had these reforms been introduced in time, these costs would have been absorbed overtime and stakeholders would have been accustomed to the cost effect. It is mainly due to the fact that these already delayed and inevitable reforms are sought to be implemented in one go that the ACA appears to be burdensome to all the stakeholders. If the reforms are delayed for political reasons, the future burden will be even greater. It is hardly surprising that the republicans are mounting their attacks on the Obamacare for political reasons and it should also be noted that the President Obama has made a few compromises by easing the mandate on the employers which means he is serious about the implementation and it cannot be taken to be a defeat for the President as claimed by the Republicans. It must be noted that when Medicaid programs were introduced there had been vast differences between the budgeted figures and the actual figures and that is what is happening to the Obamacare now. Now that the Supreme Court has upheld the Affordable care Act with some modifications, there need be no further debate over the Obamacare and regardless of the cost, the ultimate aim of access to healthcare for all at an affordable cost should no longer be delayed.
Works Cited
Angel, Marcia. "Obamacare Confronts a Fiscal Crisis." New Labor Forum 2013: 44-46.
Boehner, John. Obamacare : A Budget-Busting, Job-Killing Health CAre Law. Diane Publishing , 2011. Web.
Brezina, Paul R, et al. "How Obamacare Will Impact Reproductive Health." Seminars in Reproductive Medicine 31.3 (2013): 189-197. Web.
HHS.gov. Key Features of the Affordable Care Act By Year . 20 Novemeber 2013. 20 November 2013 <http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/facts/timeline/timeline-text.html>.Web.
Roy, Avik. "Obamacare Will Increase Health Spending By $7,450 For A Typical Family of Four [Updated]." Pharma & Health Care 23 Septmebr 2013.Web.
Selbin, Jeffrey. "The Obamacare Opportunity:Implementing teh Affordable Care Act to Improve Health, Reduce Hardhsip, and Grow the Economy for All Californians ." Berkeley Law (2013): Available at: http://works.bepress.com/jeffrey_selbin/10.Web
SenateConservatives.Com. dont'fund obamacare.com. 2013. 20 November 2013 <http://www.dontfundobamacare.com/facts.pdf>.Web.
Middle class Americans will suffers as the Obamacare will hurt the tradition 40 hour week and the affect the health of millions hardworking Americans. The IRS employees union who will be the enforcers of the scheme wants to be exempted from Obamacare.
In 2010, 74 % of Democrats supported Obamacare. Now in 2013 only 46 % supports in a poll result. Overall only 58 % of Democrats support the law representing 10 % reduction in support in 2010 when the law was enacted.
Obama himself admitted to failure of the scheme. June 2013 NBC News/WSJ poll reveals only 37 % for and 49 % against Obama care
If not defunded now, Obama care will result in loss of employment to over 800,000 workers in the next two decades. Employers have delayed hiring of workers who contend that Obamacare will make hiring difficult.
Obamacare will extract more than one trillion dollars through as many as 20 new or revised taxes.
Obamacare will upset American healthcare as there will be a loss of employer- sponsored coverage for 7 million people.
Obamacare will increase health spending by $ 7,450 for a family of four.
States are implementing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), which will expand health coverage to tens of millions of Americans
It is highly unlikely Obamacare can be fully implemented. Universal health care at affordable cost can be achieved only through a non-profitable single payer tax system.
For decades, healthcare delivery in the U.S. have been through complicated public and private insurance programs with the resultant wide gap between those who could afford and those who could not. The present Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a multifaceted and sweeping piece of legislation aiming to achieve maximum access to quality healthcare.
The Supreme Court did not approve the constitutionality of the individual insurance mandate under the tax power.
Annotated Bibliography
Angell, M. (2013). Obamacare Confronts a Fiscal Crisis Why the Affordable Care Act Doesn’t Add Up. In New Labor Forum (Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 44-46). SAGE Publications: This article expresses doubts over full implementation of Obamacare for non-affordable cost reasons.
Barnett, R. E. (2013). Who Won the Obamacare Case (and Why Did So Many Law Professors Miss the Boat). This article talks about the Supreme Court decision on Obamacare law.
Brezina, P. R., Shah, A. A., Myers, E. R., Huang, A., & DeCherney, A. H. (2013, May). How Obamacare Will Impact Reproductive Health. In Seminars in reproductive medicine (Vol. 31, No. 03, pp. 189-197). Thieme Medical Publishers. This article explains how Obamacare will impact health care.
Cheng, T., Adamides, K., Campos, S., Selbin, J., O'Leary, A., & Fuentes, R. (2013). The Obamacare Opportunity: Implementing the Affordable Care Act to Improve Health, Reduce Hardship, and Grow the Economy for All: This article discusses the opportunity to achieve universal healthcare.
Congress can and should fund government without Obamacare now : <http://www.dontfundobamacare.com/facts.pdf > This article addresses undeniable facts and figures against Obamacare
Roy Avik, Insights into health care and entitlement reform. Pharma & Health Care < http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/09/23/its-official-obamacare-will-increase-health-spending-by-7450-for-a-typical-family-of-four/> The article highlights increased spending of for a typical family of four.
