Universal Healthcare coverage for American is a very complex topic today. Obamacare otherwise known as Patient Protection and Affordable Care act was launched by president Barack Obama in 2010. So many Americans are still not sure what Obamacare is really all about. The main purpose of Obamacare is that all American should have affordable health insurance regardless of their race, ethnicity, or religion. And that everybody is required to health insurance nine consecutive months before the tax period to avoid paying any penalty while filing for federal taxes. As of 2017 the penalty of not having Obamacare is 2.5% of household income.
No doubt after this bill was passed majority of the uninsured decided to sign up with some type of health insurance. Another challenge that Hospitals and pharmacists had to go through when Obamacare took effect was that all medical records must be recorded electronically instead of paper forms. This would let health care professionals conveniently and easily share their diagnoses treatment which will eventually help them treat their patient effectively. Another reason is because insurance companies pays hospitals/clinics based on the quality of care such as how well patient get after treatment. A lot of people have a misconception of believing that Medicare pays hospitals based how many doctors prescribed or how many procedures or tests is done, but that’s absolutely not the case. Then comes 2017 a new bill was introduced under president Donald trump known as the American care act. This new act was specifically introduced to replace the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) which I think is more favorable to Americans than this new act. Under the American health care act no one is required to have an insurance and there is no penalty on their federal tax return for not having insurance.
However here is a catch under Obamacare employers were required to provide a health for employees if not there would be a penalty. Unlike the new American Care Employers will not be penalized for not providing health coverage to their employees. There would be a 30 percent surcharge for reenrolled in a coverage after a 12 month of lapse. One of the very important fact that didn’t changed even when this new bill was passed is the fact that parents can still keep their dependents under their health coverage as long as they are 26 years or younger. Another important difference between the Affordable care and the American care Act is the changes in Pre-Existing conditions. Under trump care patients are charged more for pre-existing condition. Unlike Obama care instead of charging extra for pre-existing conditions they make the client pay tax for not being insured or having 2 months gap without coverage, this is also known as individual mandate. In this case the client will not be able to get a health Insurance until Open Enrollment.
Overall the American Health Care Act has introduced a major change in the health care system today. It’s estimated by 2020 there will be a decline in health coverage by more than 14 million American, while during Obamacare more than 50 million American were newly insured under the affordable care act. No wonder the most important aspect of health care today is money. The question we all should be questioning ourselves is why the US health care system is this complex. Looking at all these developed countries with universal coverage, meanwhile republicans and democrats are here debating on useless health plans.
Funny thing is that they are coming up with different health plan that are far from universal coverage for Americans. The democrats have always wanted universal health coverage for all Americans, while the republicans are sabotaging the idea precisely our current president Donald trump he once wrote on twitter criticising UK universal health coverage. He even made fun of the democratic party for wanting this same coverage. He thinks that this type of coverage will not work or at least it will fail to proceed eventually. As an American citizen, I would have preferred a universal coverage no matter what it takes I would openly accept the pros and the cons and I know the majority of Americans feel the same way too at least the middle and lower class. I mean who would not want a free care in the 21 st century regardless of one’s bank balance or current status.
Universal Health Coverage is a free health system that provides the best quality of medical services to all. This type of health insurance system covers all cost for its citizen including primary prevention, secondary prevention and tertiary. The question is why a powerful country as United States is still not able to provide Universal coverage for its citizens especially now that we are in the 21st century. Maybe just one day democrats will achieve this goal. The benefit of free health care outweighs the risk in so many ways. Imagine being part of a nation in which more 40 million are uninsured. Let’s talk about the patients with chronic conditions who needs to see their health care provider regularly and can’t afford for their medical services.
No doubt this would increase the mortality rate of our population. That’s why the emergency rooms are packed and the wait is really long because people are waiting until they get really sick to see a doctor why, again is due to the fact they have no health insurance and of course they cannot afford their medical cost. So, they rather wait until they get very sick and go the Emergency room because they know at least they will be seen that one time. Speaking of Emergency rooms, they will have sent a big to your email a couple of weeks later and then the patient will wonder how earth will they pay that hospital bill. The rise in medical cost in the United State today is another topic itself, it’s just ridiculous not forgetting the rise in pharmaceutical cost. Everything about health care is just is too expensive and complicated. Beside the fact that the baby boomers are aging the millennials having babies which will puts us in high need of universal health coverage. There are people who works more than 2 jobs and yet can barely have enough money for their bills and food for their family.
