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The Affordable Care Act – Tina Jing Ru Shen
March 30, 2015 | Leave a Comment
All the articles for this class were interesting reads. In “A Perfect Fit for Some, but Not Others,” the varying perspectives of Americans from different geographic, financial, racial, and medical backgrounds was a good insight to how the Affordable Care Act has affected the nation. The majority of positive feedback regarding the impact of the policy was expected, but I found it depressing to hear that though some of the interviewees have grave health problems, they are not able to get insurance or afford medical procedures to improve their conditions. The Affordable Care Act has surely decreased the number of Americans that are uninsured, and that is a major improvement that can take us a step further to achieving full coverage of everyone. “Obama’s Health Law: Who Was Helped Most” breaks down demographics of people getting the most out of the act, and I found it surprising that different cohorts receive a different amount of opportunities to be insured.
In “A Perfect Fit for Some, but Not Others,” one of the interviewees Sharon Tomalavage argued that adults should not be obligated to get insurance. Rather, the focus should be on children. As visualized in the info graphic article, Americans in younger age groups received less insurance benefits, while older Americans had the highest insurance increase. It is understandable that seniors require the most health attention, but children have plenty of health problems as well. One way to put it is, adulthood is the calm after a storm, and before another. Of course that is not always the case, as it depends on the health of the individual. But in general, adults require the least medical attention, so it was interesting to find that adult Americans had higher insurance occurrences than children.
I also found another point interesting. The government requires Medicaid candidates to have an income of at least $11,670 to $46,680, which is a group of people who are way above the poverty level. But isn’t Medicaid about aiding low-income families to get the care they deserve? In the interviews, one of the Americans, Teresa E. Stoikes, was not qualified for Medicaid. Although she is financially struggling, she was rejected for Medicaid because she was too poor. I find the standards for being eligible for Medicaid and the nature of the health care program are contradictory. If Medicaid was designed to help the underprivileged afford the medical attention they need, why would it be offered to people living in extreme poverty?
To go back to one of our first discussions: why is income inequality deleterious to general society? We have mentioned that income inequality leads to rising health problems because people with lower wages work longer hours to receive sustainable pay. The amount of stress fostered from overworking is the major contributor to prominent health issues. However, I have began to think that income inequality is not only a possible factor that creates health problems, but it also fuels existing problems in a different manner. Although “Is the Affordable Care Act Working?” article says that the policy has not majorly affected health spending, the act may have indirectly led to uninsured Americans to reduce their health spending. Going back to Stoikes’ interview, Teresa states that she is afraid to go to the doctor despite her severe health issues. Since she is not qualified for Medicaid, she has accumulated a large amount of medical debt. As a result, she refuses to see the doctor for her worsening diabetes symptoms. This is a grave problem as the Affordable Care Act is perhaps missing people who actually need the aid the most.
Overall, I think the Affordable Care Act is a great progress toward coverage for all. Hopefully it will continue to improve and become equivalent to the inexpensive health care in Canada. But according to the last article, if Ted Cruz becomes president, he vows to tear down Obamacare. As described in the first article, Americans that were strictly Republican tended to remain without insurance. So, Cruz’s declaration makes sense to appeal his party. It was funny to read that Ted Cruz made a mistake of thinking that the Affordable Care Act forces Americans to buy insurance through its network, and not anywhere else.
