What does the Affordable Care Act? Advantages & Disadvantages

The Affordable Care Act is more well-known as ObamaCare and was enacted in 2010 under the Obama administration. In this article, we will look at what the Affordable Care Act covers and the pros and cons of it.

What Is the Affordable Care Act?

The purpose of the Affordable Care Act was to provide a basic level of affordable health insurance for US citizens to ensure they have access to basic health services and check-ups. Prior to the Affordable Care Act, many people couldn’t afford health insurance because of pre-existing medical conditions or being low-income or unemployed. Even though it offers a lot of good for Americans who previously couldn’t afford to see their GP for a check-up, it has been a controversial law. The controversy stems from concerns from the Conservatives over higher taxes or insurance premiums to subsidize the Affordable Care Act or worries about lower quality medical care.

Advantages of the Affordable Care Act

More people are insured – The Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2010, and by 2015, 16 million Americans had health insurance. Most of these were young adults who previously worked low-income jobs, were students, or their parents didn’t have health insurance.
Affordable health insurance – One of the purposes of the Affordable Care Act was to stop insurance companies from making extortionate rate increases. Now, insurance companies must put at least 80% of their premiums towards improvements and medical care.
Pre-existing health conditions are covered – Previously, people with chronic illnesses or pre-existing conditions were not covered by many insurance companies. The Affordable Care Act means that insurance companies are not permitted to completely deny insurance coverage.
No cut-offs – Insurance companies are not permitted to set a cap on how much they will cover their customers. This is so that people with chronic conditions or serious illness or injury do not run out of health coverage after a certain point.
Screenings – The Affordable Care Act covers health screenings and preventative care. It seeks to encourage Americans to be proactive and hopefully catch health conditions early enough to fix them. The goal of the Affordable Care Act is to improve the health of Americans and therefore reduce the overall cost and strain on the healthcare system.
Lower cost for prescriptions – Prescription drugs are more affordable under the Affordable Care Act. This allows low-income people and senior citizens to afford all of their medicines. The Affordable Care Act adds new prescription drugs to the list covered every year.

Disadvantages of the Affordable Care Act

Higher premiums for other customers – Because insurance companies have to cover people they normally wouldn’t, they have raised insurance premiums for their existing customers to deal with the demand. The Affordable Care Act has placed additional strain on the funds of insurance companies.
Fines for uninsured – The Affordable Care Act seeks to have every single American insured for healthcare needs. Unless you have an exemption, you may be fined if you do not have health insurance.
Increased taxes – Taxes have increased for high-income people in order to subsidize the Affordable Care Act. There have also been a few additional taxes added, and saved Medicare payments will be funneled towards the Affordable Care Act. Economists believe that in a decade or so, the Affordable Care Act will save the government money.
Businesses cutting hours – Employers are cutting employee hours to avoid covering them under the Affordable Care Act. The Act defines a full-time employee as working 30 or more hours per week and that businesses with more than 50 employees must pay for their health insurance. Thus, businesses are cutting hours to less than 30 hours a week to avoid extra costs.

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What does the Affordable Care Act? Advantages & Disadvantages

What Is the Affordable Care Act?

Advantages of the Affordable Care Act

Disadvantages of the Affordable Care Act

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