Introduction

Over the bid past few years’ health care reforms have garbed a lot of debate. In particular, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obama Care has been the subject of debate over the last decade in the United States. ACA is a comprehensive health care reform that was passed in March 2010. The ACA was signed into Law by the then president of the United States Barrack Obama hence the name Obamacare. The primary aim of ACA was to widen health coverage to more Americans by making health insurance more affordable. The other primary aim of the act was to protect the existing health insurance policyholders and to support innovative medical care delivery methods aimed to lower health care costs. Nine years after its implementation the laws is still controversial in the US. Since its enactment, there have been different debates on whether the act has any positive change on the U.S health sector. Majority of Americans do not know what precisely the ACA pertains, what is included in the package as a whole. Nevertheless, I believe that ACA has brought more benefits than challenges to Americans.

Benefits of the ACA

Although it has been hit with some rejections by the current administration, ACA has a lot of benefits that many people do not know. As noted by @@#, the primary aim of the act was to lower health care costs over time. Without doubts, the ACA is leaving to this promise. The ACA reduces cost in three distinctive ways. First, it is giving subsidies thus making health insurance affordable. Second, it emphasizes preventive care rather than treatment care. Lastly, ACA has improved the delivery of health care in the United States. In another dimension, it is right to say that the Act has significantly reduced the number of bankruptcy by almost 46% as of 2016. The same year the cost of health increased by 1.2%, which is much less than the previous years?

ACA has made health insurance affordable. It provides tax credits for insurance to Americans below 400% of the poverty level. Secondly, the ACA limits the out of pocket cost to $7,150 and $14, 300 for an individual plan and family plan respectively. Besides, ACA has also expanded Medicaid to 138% of the federal poverty level. It has also allowed children to stay on their parents’ insurance plans until they become 26 years of age. It also provides insurance coverage for employees working in an organization with more than 50 employees. Lastly, it prohibits insurance companies from denying Americans coverage for pre-existing conditions.

Counterargument

The opponents of the Act bring to issues that have come as a result of the implementation of the ACA. First, it has resulted in high insurance premiums. This is due to the fact that payers have increased their premium prices to cover the cost of sicker people and costs of preventive services. The other challenge commonly cited by the opponents is that ACA has resulted in high deductible health plans proliferate. As much as these two assertions might be right, their impact is less compared to the benefits that the ACA has brought. These challenges can be addressed by amending the Act rather than scrapping it off.

Conclusion

It is without doubts that the Affordable Care Act has revolutionalized the health care in the United States over the past eight years or so.