Healthcare

Healthcare concerns in the United States after Reform

With President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, many Americans have experienced the benefits and improvements in their healthcare coverage. However, there have been concerns of the act being repealed. Doing so would give insurance companies back the power to deny coverage to those who need to most.

Insurance would be able to control healthcare policies, allowing them to once again deny children with pre-existing conditions coverage, cancelling coverage upon sickness, and placing limits on the amount of healthcare a person could receive.Not only would repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act hurt American citizens through the healthcare system, but it would also add over a trillion dollars to the deficit in the coming years. Eliminating the act would be devastating to those who rely on the new benefits of the law to provide them adequate healthcare coverage.

Here are some of the consequences of appealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

• Over a million young adults would lose their healthcare insurance coverage from their parents’ plans after leaving school.

• Over 165 million people in the United States who currently have private health insurance could face the possibility of reaching their lifetime limits based on how much the company is willing to provide.

• A person’s healthcare coverage could be compromised by sickness or an application error. This could potentially affect 15.9 million people.

• Newly obtained insurance policies would no longer have to be required to cover the costs of recommended preventative procedures, like flu shots and mammograms. They would also no longer have to guarantee the right to choose whatever available primary care provider that is available within the network.

• Insurance companies would no longer have to spend at least 80% of money coming in as premiums on healthcare. They would be allowed to use that money for CEO salaries and bonuses as well as for corporate profits.

• 44.1 million senior citizens in with Medicare coverage have to pay a co-pay to be able to get important preventive services, such as mammograms and colonoscopies.

• Over 2.7 million people who receive Medicare benefits would see increases in their prescription drug cost due to the “donut hole.”

• States would no longer receive funds to make a health insurance exchange nor would they be able to stop unreasonable increases in insurance premiums.

• Nearly 5,000 employers could not receive financial relief from the Early Retiree Reinsurance Programs

While healthcare has seen some improvements under the Obama Administration, it is important that all future legislation is in the best interests of the American people and not the insurance companies. Doing so will work to make better healthcare possible for everyone.