The Individual Mandate: Necessary Intervention or Unethical Overreach?
Introduction:
The individual mandate (requirement that all people have health insurance or pay a penalty) is a key provision of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and has been the subject of considerable debate. I will be continuing this trend and analyze the individual mandate with the five step Gostin framework. This framework seeks to answer five key questions: First, is there a significant risk that the individual mandate is seeking to address? Second, is the individual mandate a reasonable response to the risk (does it work)? Third, are the economic costs outweighed by the benefits? Fourth, are the restrictions on personal freedoms reasonable when compared with probable benefits? Fifth and finally, are the benefits, costs, and burdens distributed fairly? (Gostin, 2000)
Step 1: Demonstrate a significant risk based on scientific methods
The three main problems that the Affordable Care Act sought to address were low health insurance quality, high and rising costs of healthcare, and high uninsurance rates. The individual mandate was included in Obamacare to ensure that costs did not continue to rise and to lower the uninsurance rate. The evidence shows that these were both significant risks. First, using information from the Organization for Economic Cooperation …show more content…
While the individual mandate does restrict some freedoms and impose individual burdens, it also alleviates the burdens on others and gives them freedoms they didn’t have before. So, to answer the five questions of the Gostin Framework: there is significant risk; the individual mandate is a reasonable response; the economic costs outweigh the benefits; the restrictions on personal freedom are reasonable when compared with the benefits; and the benefits, costs, and burdens are distributed fairly so this is good
Introduction:
The individual mandate (requirement that all people have health insurance or pay a penalty) is a key provision of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and has been the subject of considerable debate. I will be continuing this trend and analyze the individual mandate with the five step Gostin framework. This framework seeks to answer five key questions: First, is there a significant risk that the individual mandate is seeking to address? Second, is the individual mandate a reasonable response to the risk (does it work)? Third, are the economic costs outweighed by the benefits? Fourth, are the restrictions on personal freedoms reasonable when compared with probable benefits? Fifth and finally, are the benefits, costs, and burdens distributed fairly? (Gostin, 2000)
Step 1: Demonstrate a significant risk based on scientific methods
The three main problems that the Affordable Care Act sought to address were low health insurance quality, high and rising costs of healthcare, and high uninsurance rates. The individual mandate was included in Obamacare to ensure that costs did not continue to rise and to lower the uninsurance rate. The evidence shows that these were both significant risks. First, using information from the Organization for Economic Cooperation …show more content…
While the individual mandate does restrict some freedoms and impose individual burdens, it also alleviates the burdens on others and gives them freedoms they didn’t have before. So, to answer the five questions of the Gostin Framework: there is significant risk; the individual mandate is a reasonable response; the economic costs outweigh the benefits; the restrictions on personal freedom are reasonable when compared with the benefits; and the benefits, costs, and burdens are distributed fairly so this is good