The Affordable Care Act is Effective Legislation

I notice that Con is relatively new to the site and I wish them a very warm welcome My argument will be broken down into two dual sections, first dealing with the deficiencies of the current system of US healthcare and secondly the provisions the act contains to rectify these problems. In my first arguments I have chosen three 1) Large Numbers of Uninsured Low-Income Citizens In the US, the consequence of no health insurance is no access to non-emergency healthcare and no treatment for long-term illnesses. This is undoubtedly an undesirable situation to exist in. So the question presses why do 48,000,000[i] Americans live with no health insurance? The answer is the inefficiency and unaffordability of a largely out-dated healthcare system. The provisions of the ACA improve this in the following ways: 1.1) Expansion of Medicaid ‘The ACA creates new coverage options through Medicaid and new health insurance exchange marketplaces that, taken together, provide assistance to individuals with family incomes up to 400% of the federal poverty level (FPL). The ACA calls for the expansion of Medicaid eligibility to 138% FPL ($15,856 for an individual or $26,951 for a family of three in 2013) in 2014, which would make millions of adults newly eligible for the program. However, this expansion was effectively made a state option by the Supreme Court. If a state does not expand Medicaid, low-income uninsured adults in that state will not gain that new coverage option and will likely remain uninsured[ii]’ This provision will increase the number of adults eligible to Medicaid programs, which will in turn reduce the number of uninsured Americans. This crucial fix will increase the healthcare provisions in the US and large numbers of people will now be able to receive treatment who were not before. 2) Pre-existing Conditions and Insurance Under the current system those who have existing health conditions like severe asthma, leukaemia, heart problems and underlying diseases are either turned away by insurers or are offered very high, unaffordable premiums. This is one of the greatest defects because it means that those who are likely most in need of medical treatment are unable to access it. The ACA fixes this as starting Jan. 1, 2014, no health insurance company will be allowed to deny patients coverage or charge you more because of your health status or pre-existing condition. This provision will help those most needy who are unable to access care and this is an irrefutable argument[iii]. The summary of changes from the White House is as follows: ‘A group health plan and a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage may not establish rules for eligibility (including continued eligibility) of any individual to enroll under the terms of the plan or coverage based on any of the following health status-related factors in relation to the individual or a dependent of the individual: Health status, Medical condition (including both physical and mental illnesses), Claims experience, Receipt of health care, Medical history, Genetic information, Evidence of insurability (including conditions arising out of acts of domestic violence), Disability, Any other health status-related factor determined appropriate by the Secretary’[iv] This can only be seen as a good thing, helping many hard working people and tax payers access medicines to treat painful and expensive conditions. 3) Individual and Employer Mandates Under provisions of the act every individual will be mandated to buy health insurance or face a small penalty. This step towards universal healthcare is a good thing because it makes being insured the norm and eliminates the complacency among young people who stipulate they don’t need insurance because they are young. Employers of more than 50 people will be mandated to provide employer coverage of its employees or lose tax breaks and subsidies. This provision will make again widen the provision of healthcare[v]. 4) Poor Quality of Coverage Under the current insurance program, insurers are allowed to offer very low levels of coverage, which barely constitute health care: no access to cancer drugs, long term treatments, good prosthetic limbs etc. The ACA introduces minimum requirements of standards that insurers must provide to patients that may increase the minimum cost of care slightly but increases the quality of care for all Americans. 5) Cost Cost to the federal government of implementing the ACA is an often misunderstood area. The act is seen as a white elephant spending more and more money on entitlements, but this is not the case Federal spending will be reduced by the implementation of the ACA. Read this source from the non partisan Central Budget Office(CBO) Assuming that H. R. 6079 is enacted near the beginning of fiscal year 2013, CBO and JCT estimate that, on balance, the direct spending and revenue effects of enacting that legislation would cause a net increase in federal budget deficits of $109 billion over the 2013–2022 period. Specifically, we estimate that H. R. 6079 would reduce direct spending by $890 billion and reduce revenues by $1 trillion between 2013 and 2022, thus adding $109 billion to federal budget deficits over that period. This, their latest estimate, calculates that revenues will increase under the ACA more than net spending, reducing the budget deficit. My Case The debate on the ACA has become a highly partisan issue where reason is thrown out the window in a tempest of anti-Obama fury. The ACA is seen as a bad thing mainly because it was Obama who created it and pushed it through. My case is simply: that the current healthcare system is highly inadequate and that it is in urgent need of reform. Obamacare begins down the track of reforming the system through several thought at strategies. It is a realistic solution to a problem, which will only get worse. _________________________________ These are my initial arguments for Obamacare. May I remind Con that in his round 1 he is expected to lay out his case that the ACA is not effective legislation, and in round 2 we will begin to refute eachothers points. Good Luck! [i] . http://www.census.gov...- US Census [ii] . http://kff.org...- KF foundation fact sheet. [iii] . http://voiceofsandiego.org... [iv] . http://housedocs.house.gov... [v] . http://online.wsj.com...