The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Essay Sample)

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 
Medicare is a precious resource that offers healthcare insurance to millions of American citizens. It is not only an indispensable tool for senior citizens but also for youths with permanent disabilities. Before the ratification of the Medicare Act in 1965, approximately half of the aging population lacked reliable hospital insurance. Nonetheless, today, almost the entire population of U.S citizens is covered with Medicare insurance. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is reasonably affordable for families and individuals with a stable and decent income, it standardizes healthcare insurance provision for competitors thereby improving patient satisfaction and health outcome; however, it is expensive for families and people with unstable wages and offers additional benefits such as maternity services unnecessary for some recipients.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act reinforces existent forms of healthcare insurance while creating new and affordable medical care insurance for families and people whose insurance schemes cover them partially or with minimum coverage such as Medicaid. The Act covers all U.S citizens whose income is less than 133% of the national poverty threshold (Frean et al., 2017). Similarly, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act regulate federal criteria for health insurance providers that offer products suitable for individuals, employers, and small groups.
However, the Act disadvantages families and people who struggle with unstable incomes which in turn makes the health insurance premiums unaffordable to a considerable percentage of U.S citizens. Moreover, clients may incur extra costs catering for benefits such as maternity care that is of no use to them. Additionally, companies grapple with exorbitant health plans, thus, they find it commercially feasible to allow their workers to buy their insurance covers instead of offering employer-sponsored insurance coverage. Health insurance should be compulsory since the self-sponsored route is costly especially when an individual urgently requires comprehensive medical attention which is expensive when he or she lacks the money to facilitate payment (Sommers et al., 2017). Furthermore, a slight medical issue may lead to a financial impediment.