In the modern world, having access to health care Essays

In the modern world, having access to health care Essays In the modern world, having access to health care can certainly benefit one's life , but not having it can make the difference between life and death. In 2010, 18.2% of the nonelderly U.S. population was uninsured. From a political perspective, Democrats have typically encouraged more government intervention with services to the people. Thus, to no surprise, d uring the 111 th United States Congress, the O bama Administration encouraged C ongress to spend a considerable amount of time and energy to reform the country' s healthcare system . On September 17 th , 2009, the controversial H.R.3950 - Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) was introduced. Despite conservatives fighting it tooth and nail, it passed both houses. As expected, on March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the bill into law , and now it is commonly re ferred to as Obamacare . The ACA is the biggest reform action the United States Federal Government has enacted on the country 's health care and medical system since Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. Since its proposal became law, it has affected a wide variety of America n activities, processes, and the political realm. Specifically, i t has affected American small business owners including individual Americans themselves . Its influe nce continues to impact both social and political arena s even today . The Affordable Care Act has had an impact on American businesses and their operations. For example, b usinesses with 50 employees or more are now required to provide their employees with health coverage, otherwise they will pay a fine. The Patient-Centered Outc omes Research Trust Fund fee along with the Reinsurance Fee require businesses to spend more capital they other wise wouldn't have spent . Additionally , in order to control these additional costs , businesses are being forced to restrict the number of workers qualified for their healthcare benefits, which of course requires extra administrative oversight. To ensure A C A compliance, many businesses now must create new procedures, hire extra staff, and monitor employees' hours and schedules to make sure that they don't work over 29 hours a week, guaranteeing a part-time status. As a result, the employees can be impacted by havin g their weekly working hours reduced, which results in a decrease of hours and ultimately a decre ase in pay for those affected employees. This situation creates a so cial conflict between business staff and their potential / existing employees . In the end, b oth parties must come to an agreement regarding who is going to cover the costs associated with the plan, who is going to spend more out of po cket, etc . , and this ultimately affects the hiring process as a whole . As mentioned, in addition to American small business owners , individual Americans are affected. Today, t obacco users are now faced with another consequence to their unhealthy habit. Under the ACA, insurance companies can impose an additional charge on tobacco users' premiums , effectively making the law another piece of the smoking cessation effort of the country. This law directly affects all tobacco users in America as they are now given the option to quit, or pay more for their insurance . However, smokers faced with medium' and high' tobacco charges to their premium were less likely to even obtain insurance coverage at all and if the charges were low, were less likely to quit. The ACA's goal of increasing smoking cessation with high health care costs was largely unsuccessful as it is ultimately driving tobacco smokers away from the health care system. Due to the ACA, adults until age 26 can stay on their parent's insurance policies, which is a major impact to millions of individual Americans. "Because of the law 6.6 million additional young adults, including more than 1.3 million minorities - many of them new college graduates- had access to coverage even if they were unable to find a job right away." This dependent provision results in many more young adults being covered by insurance, which promotes equality and makes it possible for these adults to stay focused on other things in their life such as their career, education, and responsibilities . I ndividuals