Federal Health Care Essay

Federal health care is one of the biggest social and economic problems Americans face today. Due to the rising cost of medical care and health insurance, many Americans are either uninsured or do not have adequate coverage. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly known as Obama Care, is part of a decade-long effort to reform the nation’s health care system and ensure that more Americans have adequate and affordable health care coverage (Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2013). This essay will briefly explain the elements of Obama Care, the pros and cons of the policy, and how the policy raises issues of federalism. President Barack Obama made health care reform the foundation of his agenda during his first year as president. According to Salem Press Encyclopedia (2013), â€Å"he charged the Democratic Congress with crafting a comprehensive bill that would provide coverage to all Americans, lower health care costs, and improve the quality of health care of the entire country.† Even though the Democratic majority embraced the idea, they had considerable difficulty in embracing a single package that satisfied liberals, moderates, and conservative Democrats alike (Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2013). However, Republicans and a growing number of independent votes immediately pushed for an appeal of the law. In light of the major controversy that surrounded the reform, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act had been significantly modified, removing sticky points underscored by moderates and conservatives, to make it palatable to enough moderate and conservative Democrats to gain passage (Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2013). The Ninth Amendment states that â€Å"the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people† (Huffman, 2012). However, the federal government and the states view the Obama Care policy has a struggle for power when their central concern should be with establishing the division of powers best suited to preserve liberty. According to Huffman (2012), â€Å"Obamacare’s transparent impositions on liberty were given scant attention in the oral arguments over the law’s constitutionality, notwithstanding the fact that the reason the healthcare law has been consistently opposed by a majority of voters is their objection to the individual mandate.† President Barack Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on March 23, 2010. Its goal is to  give more Americans access to affordable, quality insurance and to reduce the growth in health care spending in the United States through consumer protections, regulations, subsidies, taxes, insurance exchanges, and other reforms (ObamaCareFacts, 2014). According to ObamaCareFacts (2014), â€Å"ObamaCare offers a number of new benefits, rights and protections including provisions that let young adults stay on their plan until 26, stop insurance companies from dropping you when you are sick or if you make an honest mistake on your application, prevent against gender discrimination, stop insurance companies from making unjustified rate hikes, do away with lifetime and annual limits, give you the right to a rapid appeal of insurance company decisions, expand coverage to tens of million, subsidize health insurance costs, require all insurers to cover people with pre-existing conditions, among other things.† Obama Care, or PPACA, has been designed to help Americans medically and financially when it comes to health insurance.  There are many pros and cons related to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or commonly known as Obama Care. Some pros of PPACA include tens of millions of uninsured will get access to affordable quality health insurance through the marketplace, helps to curb the growth in healthcare spending, over half of uninsured Americans can get free or low cost health insurance, and even small businesses can get tax credits for up to 50% of their employees’ health insurance premium costs (ObamaCareFacts, 2014). Some cons of PPACA include in order to get the money to help insure tens of millions there are new taxes which mostly affect high-earners, focuses more on making sure people are covered than it does on addressing the cost of care, mandates that you have to obtain health coverage by January 2014, get an exception or pay a fee if you cannot afford it, and even mandates that in 2015 businesses with over the equivalent of 50 full-time employees must provide health coverage (ObamaCareFacts, 2014). The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has been fairly effective in achieving its goals of give more Americans access to affordable, quality insurance and to reduce the growth in health care spending in the United States through consumer protections, regulations, subsidies, taxes, insurance exchanges, and other reforms (ObamaCareFacts, 2014). According to  Dictionary.com, LLC (2014), effectiveness means â€Å"adequate to accomplish a purpose; producing the intended or expected result.† Even though there are many pros and cons to the policy, they have been fairly effective to ensure all Americans receive affordable, quality health insurance and coverage. American federalism’s constitutional framework is based off of national and state governments sharing the authority that is derived from the people (Levin-Waldman, 2012). The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is successful based off of the cooperation of local, state, and national authority. PPACA is consistent with American federalism’s constitutional framework because all stages of government, as well as people, are working together to ensure all Americans are taken care of medically, as well as financially, when it comes to health care and insurance. Furthermore, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is part of a decades-long effort to reform the nation’s health care system and ensure that more Americans have adequate and affordable health care coverage (Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2013). It has many pros and cons, but has been effective and demonstrates American federalism’s constitutional framework because it includes all stages of government, as well as ensures all Americans receive affordable, quality health insurance and coverage. References Dictionary.com, LLC. (2014). Effectiveness. Retrieved from http://dictionary.referance.com/browse/effectiveness Huffman, J. (2012). Obamacare vs. Federalism. Retrieved from www.hoover.org/publications/defining-ideas/article/119436 Levin-Waldman, O. M. (2012). American government. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. ObamaCareFacts. (2014). ObamaCare Facts: Facts on the Affordable Care Act. Retrieved from obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-facts.php ObamaCareFacts. (2014). ObamaCare: Pros and Cons of ObamaCare. Retrieved from obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-pros-and-cons.php Salem Press Encyclopedia. (2013). Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Overview. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/eds/detail?sid=2b1be3dd-154d-43ab-84e9-aeeaa71be0c7%40sessionmgr4004&vid=5&hid=4205&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=ers%AN=89158281