Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

The divisive politics and polarization have made it difficult for American leaders to rethink about the much-anticipated reforms in healthcare sector. There are those arguing that the current affordable healthcare program under the Affordable Care Act is economical. From a cost benefit analysis approach, for a program to be economical, the benefits must be high compared to the amount incurred in the implementation of the program (Milstead & Short, 2019). The Act makes it possible for most of the citizens to access healthcare services and, therefore, repealing it may make legislators lose political support.

The politics around the affordable healthcare Act is that if it is repealed, some political leaders fear that many people will lose the insurance cover (Hagan et al., 2017). There is also fear that the repeal of the Act will result in a massive loss of jobs with the reduction of people who have access to the insurance cover. For instance, if the Act is repealed, many people who acquired their insurance coverage under the affordable healthcare program will automatically lose them. Millions of low-income earners who got covered under the Medicaid program will lose them, and consequently, many Americans will end up uninsured. This will affect their ability to access and afford healthcare services.

From Feldstein’s point of view, it is unlikely that the politicians will support the repeal of the Affordable care Act. This is based on the fact that from a cost-benefit analysis, the politicians are only likely to support a legislative agender that has more beneficial to them (Feldstein, 2006). On this basis, they are not likely to repeal the Affordable Care Act because it will not be beneficial to the Americans. This is reflected by the fact that despite the efforts by President Trump’s efforts to have the Act repealed, he has not been succeeded. For instance, even when the republics were in the control of the Congress, they could not Marshall the necessary support for the votes required to repeal the law. The coat benefits (political support), in this case, outweigh the cost (losing political support). Therefore, they are not likely to support the repeal.

References

Feldstein, P. (2006). The politics of health legislation: An economic perspective. Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.

Milstead, J. A., & Short, N. M. (2019). Health policy and politics: A nurse’s guide (6th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Taylor, D., Olshansky, E. F., Woods, N. F., Johnson-Mallard, V., Safriet, B. J., & Hagan, T. (2017). Corrigendum to position statement: Political interference in sexual and reproductive health research and health professional education [Nursing Outlook 65/2 (2017) 242–245]. Nursing Outlook, 65(3), 346-350.

Hi Lenick,

The fact that if the Affordable Care Act is repealed will cause many people to lose insurance is troubling. The United States will have up to 21 million individuals uninsured (Abelson, Goodnough & Pear, 2019). In addition to, Abelson, Goodnough and Pear state “without the A.C.A, the cost of care for people who cannot pay for it could increase as much as $50.2 billion…Hospitals and other medical providers will incur losses” (2019). Therefore, one of the Affordable Care Act’s goal was to promote primary care and preventative care which will reduce visits to the emergency department or reduce worsening chronic illnesses. According to Araujo’s Average Health Care Costs and Ways to Save, she states “health care spending is projected to grow at an average rat3e of 5.5% per year between 2018 and 2027” (2019). If the Affordable Care Act is repealed and an uninsured visit the emergency department without paying their bill it would lead to money loss in health care. “Once a patient declared bankruptcy [for medical bills], the hospital had to declare a loss on any unpaid treatment” (Amadeo, 2019). Furthermore, in Amadeo’s article, she concludes “Obamacare reduced the number of bankruptcy filings” (2019), which is a benefit to the economy and Americans.

References

Abelson, R., Goodnough, A. & Pear, R. (2019). What happens if Obamacare is struck down?. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/health/obamacare-trump-health.html

Amadeo, K. (2019). Benefits of Obamacare-What you will and won’t lose if Obamacare is replaced. Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/benefits-of-obamacare-advantages-of-the-aca-3306066

Araujo, M. (2019). Average health care costs and ways to save-Be prepared by understanding what you might pay. Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/healthcare-costs-3306068