Affordable Care Act Case Study

Obamacare has been largely successful. The Affordable Care Act’s overall goal of reducing the number of uninsured person has been met. According to the New York Times, “by allowing young people to remain on their parents’ plans until they are 26, the ACA has also reduced the amount of uninsured youth from 34 to 21 percent in 2010”. While healthcare costs may have risen after the ACA was passed, the costs were raised less when compared to the previous year. This shows that the ACA reduces the rising costs of healthcare. Under the ACA, people with previous conditions can’t be denied healthcare. This means that people who need healthcare to cover more severe conditions that they could not pay for otherwise, will have easier access to financial help. More preventative care such as screenings are also covered under the act, in the hopes that people will be encouraged to look out for, and stop health issues before they …show more content…
This creates the problem of not having enough funding to take care of the sickly and elderly who were promised help. The ACA also requires people to pay for care that they may not need, considering that their insurance must cover 10 “essential health benefits” or they will face a penalty. This also forced many people to lose their existing private insurance plans, which did not cover all 10 benefits. By allowing the government to require health insurance, many also argue that the government is intruding on the private rights of citizens. Employers have also cut employee hours to avoid paying higher costs that come with insuring full-time employees (employees who work 30 hours a week) under the new law. Another problem with the ACA is that it raises taxes for the middle class, and may not provide any help covering healthcare costs for those deemed to make enough a