Mar
31
Blog Post #12
March 31, 2015 | Leave a Comment
I like how the NY Times article provides two different viewpoints of being insured and uninsured. While the insured patients have very hopeful stories about finding out about terrible illnesses and being able to cure it because of the insurancfe, there is also the other side to consider. There are weaknesses in the Affordable Care Act, such as how subsidies are limited and one unfortunate person, Teresa Stoikes, didn’t fall into any of the categories to be able to obtain financial assistance. Of course there are great success stories, but if only America had universal healthcare, people wouldn’t have to be so worried about if they should deal with their unknown illness rather than face heavy bills by going to the hospital.
I think the fact that the Affordable Care Act allows for dependents to be on their parent’s health insurance until they turn 26 is very beneficial. It allows young Americans to focus on their education and not have to worry about paying for their health insurance until after they’ve probably completed most of their schooling. I think this will benefit the future generations because like the article said, young college graduates reported excellent health, which was an “indicator of future sickness and mortality”, which means that future generations would also have good health. Since the older generation is only now receiving the benefits, it may take some time for any results to show.
Although the Affordable Care Act might not be perfect at this time, it does appear to be a start. For example, it did help a lot of people get health insurance (reduced by about 25 percent), and it helped recent college graduates, and allows for free preventive screening. Of course, the coverage gap still remains a problem because people who are in that awkward gap have very limited options.
I think the charts in the article, “Obama’s Health Law: Who Was Helped Most,” were confusing. At first I couldn’t really decipher how to interpret them, but now I believe they show how many people of that category (race, age, gender, etc) are uninsured; and the arrow shows the change after Obama’s health care. It’s a positive thing to note that all the graphs show a decrease in percentage, meaning more people are being insured.
Although many people are receiving help in obtaining insurance, there is still that small percentage of people who are too rich for subsidies but still too poor to afford insurance on their own. I can only wonder how they will manage their health insurance, since they aren’t receiving any help.
-Margaret Wang
