The Pros And Cons Of The Affordable Care Act?

I am terribly ashamed to admit that prior to this class I really did not have a position on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). I simply ignored what was going on because I had insurance through my employer and I didn’t feel like the ACA would have that much bearing on my life. I was aware of some of the positive and negative aspects but had not really given it all a lot of thought. The one thing that did intrigue and interest me was the potential for Medicaid expansion. This was both exciting and troublesome because my job is totally structured around people who qualify for Medicaid. Increasing the rosters would have had a drastic effect on what I do and would have meant tremendous growth for my business but since Tennessee opted not to expand

First and foremost is the fact that it has provided upwards of 32 million Americans with some type of health insurance coverage. With the passing of the law, all insurance companies are now required to cover ten essential health benefits, including but not limited to mental health, addiction and chronic diseases. This saves money because these are the very people that would end up in the emergency room for treatment if they do not have access to healthcare. It has removed the stigma of preexisting conditions and now ensures insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage because of medical conditions and the insured can no longer be dropped or experience increased premiums should they develop a catastrophic illness. The lifetime and annual limits on coverage were eliminated which will help those who encounter tragic injury or illness; possibly preventing them from bankrupting themselves trying to pay for life saving measures. Children can now remain on their parent’s policy up to the age of 26. This alone has supplied around 3 million people with insurance coverage that they didn’t previously have (Shaffer, 2013). Health care reform gave each individual state the opportunity (although not all exercised this right) and option to expanded Medicaid rosters, making the threshold 138% of the Federal poverty level (Chang & Davis, 2013). The Affordable Care Act which includes the Prevention and Public Health

Sever misinterpretation of the legislation distorted public opinion. Many people did not understand the impact that the ACA would have on employers and the coverage that they would be mandated to supply. Companies who employee greater than 50 employees are required to make coverage available and contribute to the cost or pay a fee; however, they qualify for the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) and are given tax breaks to help defray the cost (Reisman, 2015). Based on Reisman’s research, employers who have greater than 50 but fewer than 100 employees can obtain coverage for employees through state-based insurance exchanges and those who employee less than 25 full-time employees also qualify for tax breaks to help with costs. Another common misconception was that the ACA would afford illegal immigrants the opportunity to have healthcare. The ACA law excludes undocumented immigrants from these new coverage options and offers reduced benefits for those legally present (Shaffer, 2013). There are some parts of the Affordable Care Act that are hard to understand or conceptualize. One example understanding how the ACA will save health care dollars in the long run when it will significantly increase healthcare spending during