Health Policy Analysis of US Affordable Care Act (Term Paper Sample)

US Affordable Care Act/ Obamacare
Student Name
Institution
Course
Instructor
Date
Introduction
After a decade since its passage, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or simply Obamacare, has remained at the forefront of public health policy. The law has consistently been contentious as one of the many matters of public opinion, but it remains to represent a historic milestone in the healthcare reform of the United States. While the policy was incremental in numerous dimensions, health financing plans for most Americans have remained relatively unaltered, but the Affordable Care Act has stubbornly remained as an indelible mark on the U.S healthcare system as it expands insurance coverage and the efforts being put by government to enhance the healthcare delivery system (Lerman, Sadin & Trachtman, 2017). Since its inception, America has witnessed a huge decline in the number of those who have no medical insurance, while other aspects of the law have been included to touch on the quality and cost of care. Yet, a look into the future holds both hope and an atmosphere of challenges which threaten the legacy of this historic healthcare policy.
The Affordable Care Act (2010) / Obamacare
The Affordable Care Act was the uttermost monumental change in the United States healthcare policy since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. From the time it was enacted countless claims have been made by both Democrats and Republicans on the successes and failures of the policy (Center, Woods, Manchikanti & Purdue Pharma, 2017). Nonetheless, these opinions have often been colored by political rhetoric. Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act was enacted with three fundamental goals in mind. The first goal was to cause an increase in the number of those who have health insurance. The second goal was to enhance the quality of healthcare in America. The third goal was to reduce healthcare costs in America. In the debate of the successes and failures of Obamacare, one point always seems to be forgotten—the difference between affordability and access. Access refers to the process of obtaining healthcare while affordability pertains to the financial mechanism for making sure that people have their healthcare paid for.
Obamacare or ACA has reshaped private medical insurance in many ways. For instance, it has created new minimum federal consumer protections for people, especially from low-income households. Noteworthy is the fact that insurers were proscribed against discriminating people on the basis of their health status. Thus, nobody would be turned away from coverage or be charged higher premiums as a result of their pre-existing conditions (Voskerchyan, 2019). The ACA defined a set of health benefits that were deemed essential. There was also the abolishment of both annual and lifetime limits on the benefits that could be covered by insurers. Obamacare also made sure that dependent coverage for children was established in order to make sure that children could stay on their parent’s insurance until they attain the age of 26. This coverage increased the number of beneficiaries as millions of young people are more than 18 years of age and still not able to afford health coverage.