Similar to Canada’s health care system, President Barack Obama implemented the Affordable Care Act. The Affordable Care Act provides Americans with affordable and quality health insurance. To make health care more affordable in the United States, the legislation includes new benefits, rights and protections, rules for insurance companies, taxes, tax breaks, and funding (Affordable Care Act Summary). I believe that the Affordable Care Act, also referred to as Obamacare, is beneficial for Americans of the middle class. With the Republic party looking to repeal the ACA in 2017, one can realize the benefits the legislation had on the upper-middle class, middle-middle class, and lower-middle class Americans.
Since Trump’s inauguration on January …show more content…
As defined by Stephen Rose, the middle-middle class people are individuals earning between $50,000 and $99,999 annually (Rose). For a long time, the United States has struggled with how to adequately provide health care for its poor and middle class, however through the ACA the struggle is reduced (Grogan). One way the ACA has proven to be beneficial for Americans is through credit score calculations. Currently, through the ACA, credit scores are calculated by the amount of income an individual makes (Wilkerson). However, the Republican health care plan suggests calculating credit on age rather than income. For the middle-middle class, this means they would most likely pay higher amounts of premium on their insurance (Wilkerson). In this case, the Affordable Care Act reduces premiums, and therefore benefits the middle-middle class Americans. In addition, the ACA introduces cost-sharing subsidies that affect the middle-middle class families. Cost-sharing subsidies reduce the out-of-pocket exposures for eligible enrollees with income between 100% and 250% of the federal poverty level (Norris). The reduction is due to the US Human and Health Services reimbursing insurance companies. Therefore, cost-sharing subsidies reduce the amount of premium middle-middle class people pay for …show more content…
As defined by Stephen Rose, lower-middle class people are individuals earning between $30,000 and $49,999 annually (Rose). Similar to the middle-middle class families, the ACA provides cost-sharing subsidies that lower the premium, and cover out-of-pocket costs such as deductibles for the insurers (Mathews). This would reduce the cost of health care, making it more affordable to the lower-class. However, if the Republican health care plan is implemented, the lower-middle class with individual health plans would encounter higher costs on their premiums (Mathews). The reduction of premiums makes health care more affordable, which benefits the lower-middle class people. This demonstrates how the ACA remains to be beneficial to them. In addition, the Affordable Care Act shows to improve eligibility for insurers. As stated in, Amending Obamacare Could Break Parts of America’s Health-Insurance Market: Medicine or Poison, “Obamacare expanded eligibility for the programme to all those earning less than 138% of the federal poverty line, or $16,400 for an individual in 2017 (Amending Obamacare Could Break Parts of America’s Health-Insurance Market)”. This resulted in an increase in health care amongst those in the lower-middle class. Furthermore, the ACA has shown to make improvements in health-insurance coverage since 2010 (Amending Obamacare Could Break Parts of America’s Health-Insurance
Since Trump’s inauguration on January …show more content…
As defined by Stephen Rose, the middle-middle class people are individuals earning between $50,000 and $99,999 annually (Rose). For a long time, the United States has struggled with how to adequately provide health care for its poor and middle class, however through the ACA the struggle is reduced (Grogan). One way the ACA has proven to be beneficial for Americans is through credit score calculations. Currently, through the ACA, credit scores are calculated by the amount of income an individual makes (Wilkerson). However, the Republican health care plan suggests calculating credit on age rather than income. For the middle-middle class, this means they would most likely pay higher amounts of premium on their insurance (Wilkerson). In this case, the Affordable Care Act reduces premiums, and therefore benefits the middle-middle class Americans. In addition, the ACA introduces cost-sharing subsidies that affect the middle-middle class families. Cost-sharing subsidies reduce the out-of-pocket exposures for eligible enrollees with income between 100% and 250% of the federal poverty level (Norris). The reduction is due to the US Human and Health Services reimbursing insurance companies. Therefore, cost-sharing subsidies reduce the amount of premium middle-middle class people pay for …show more content…
As defined by Stephen Rose, lower-middle class people are individuals earning between $30,000 and $49,999 annually (Rose). Similar to the middle-middle class families, the ACA provides cost-sharing subsidies that lower the premium, and cover out-of-pocket costs such as deductibles for the insurers (Mathews). This would reduce the cost of health care, making it more affordable to the lower-class. However, if the Republican health care plan is implemented, the lower-middle class with individual health plans would encounter higher costs on their premiums (Mathews). The reduction of premiums makes health care more affordable, which benefits the lower-middle class people. This demonstrates how the ACA remains to be beneficial to them. In addition, the Affordable Care Act shows to improve eligibility for insurers. As stated in, Amending Obamacare Could Break Parts of America’s Health-Insurance Market: Medicine or Poison, “Obamacare expanded eligibility for the programme to all those earning less than 138% of the federal poverty line, or $16,400 for an individual in 2017 (Amending Obamacare Could Break Parts of America’s Health-Insurance Market)”. This resulted in an increase in health care amongst those in the lower-middle class. Furthermore, the ACA has shown to make improvements in health-insurance coverage since 2010 (Amending Obamacare Could Break Parts of America’s Health-Insurance