Argumentative Essay: The Affordable Care Act

The debate about providing health insurance for everyone is a heated debate. Personally, I do not think that people have a right to health insurance, but everyone should have an opportunity to gain health insurance, if they prefer. The previous system of delivering healthcare was in desperate need of reformation, but the approach of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is too drastic and has strained an already stressed system. As a country, programs should be put into place to help the disabled, elderly, poor and working poor gain access to healthcare at rates that are affordable to their current situation. One of the biggest advantages of having access to healthcare is that people are able to seek medical care about health issues when the problem first occurs and before the health issue becomes serious (HealthcareResaearchFunding.org, 2013). Many serious health issues could be better managed if individuals have access to affordable healthcare services and can seek treatment early. …show more content…
The ACA was expected to address spending through better utilization of healthcare services in order to save money through the Medicare program. “Although the administration talks about making Medicare more efficient, three separate reports by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) have concluded that the pilot programs and the demonstration projects that are supposed to find these efficiencies are not working” (Goodman, 2015, para. 30). The only program that has uncovered inefficiencies is the Medicare Advantage program, but policy makers are moving forward with cuts in subsidies for this program (Goodman, 2015). Both Medicaid and Medicare are relied upon for health insurance for the disabled, elderly, poor and working poor and is a cornerstone for the ACA. The inadequacies of both programs fail to provide the healthcare services needed by the populations served by the system and leaves a large group of the U.S. population still