Affordable Health Care Reform

Possible threat of losing health care coverage if President Trump’s repeal passes through Congress, puts millions of Americans’ health at stake. The health care reform, known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, was created to expand and improve access to care and curb spending through regulations and taxes (F, n.d., p.1). It has successfully accomplished its key elements in this strategy (Ku, Steinmetz, Brantley, 2017). Since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) passed, 13.3 million Americans have gained access to health care coverage that they once could not afford. Repealing this law would result in economic, psychological, personal, familial, community, and society repercussions that would cripple the American people and

its economy. Not to mention, there is no other reform(s) in place to implement the current law. So, Americans who are currently covered under the ACA will no longer have coverage and will be forced to pay out of pocket for all health care costs.
Americans will lose healthcare coverage and potentially face bankruptcy, along with job loss, loss of funds, and increase in taxes, pressing an even bigger burden on the middle-class.

According to (Blumberg, Buettgenst and Holahan, 2016) “29.8 million people would lose their health insurance, more than doubling the people without health insurance, if the repeal were to pass through congress. 1.2 million jobs would be lost, not just in health care, but across the board”. 140 billion will be lost in federal funding for health care in the upcoming year (Ku, Steinmetz, Brantley, p.2). The repeal would not only overhaul Medicaid, but cut spending costs $772 billion over the next ten years, leaving twenty-four million Americans uninsured by 2021 (Jacobson, 2017). The possibility of insurance companies raising premiums or refusing to insure certain people due to their costly preexisting conditions, like they formerly could before Obamacare was enacted, is a potential threat. If the pre-existing conditions provision is repealed, 52 million Americans could be at risk of being denied coverage in the future (Jacobson, p.4). Trump’s repeal would impact Medicare as well by increasing premiums and payments for services, reverse efforts to fill Medicare Part D gaps, and ultimately end preventive services that are provided free to patients (Jacobson, 2017). Raised revenue from the ACA will also be lost if the law is

repealed.
“Since Medicaid’s expansion, greater access and lower cost have allowed the poorest residents and tens of thousands of others to sign up for private coverage” (Struyk, 2017).

Repealing the ACA will have adverse consequences and cause repercussions for some of our most vulnerable citizens (Struyk, 2017). Economic repercussions would consist of employment and economic activity (i.e. business output, gross state product, and state and local tax revenue). Bivens (2017) states, “Losing health insurance would also be devastating for family finance and cripple the economy”. Under the ACA, all insurance plans provide essential benefits."Not only did legislation make it impossible for insurers to deny people with pre-existing conditions, it enabled young adults to stay on their parents' plans until the age of 26, and provided mental health parity to people through the expansion of Medicaid in the states” (Lapowsky, 2017). Repealing the ACA would undercut the progress made with people with pre-existing conditions and mental health and substance abuse issues, cutting off their supply of needed

help.
The Affordable Care Act is a watershed in U.S. public health policy that established basic legal protection and guarantees access to affordable health insurance coverage (Rosenbaum, 2011). Therefore, I will focus on Title I: Quality, Affordable health care for all Americans.