The affordable care act(ACA) enacted in 2010 in the United States
brought health care reforms to improve the accessibility,
affordability, and quality of health care. Since the law was passed,
there has been a decrease in the rate of the uninsured population by
43% with increased accessibility to care, reduction in health care
debts by people qualifying for Medicaid coverage, etc. This law
provided federal support for states to expand their Medicaid
programs to cover more low-income adults. Young adults could stay
on a parent’s plan until age 26 years of age (Obama,2016). But these
reforms targeted only people in certain income groups. The ACA
subsidies cost about $50 billion annually resulting in about $25,000
spent by the government on each new enrolled individual (Blasé,
2020).
But for the average American who has a basic paying job that
hardly meets his needs, affording health insurance is a challenge.
Even though they may have insurance coverage through the
employer, they pay high premiums and still end up with high
deductibles, out-of-pocket costs, and high prescription prices. My
health insurance offered through my employer is a high deductible
insurance plan. My out-of-pocket costs and deductible will be close
to 8,000 plus the premiums. How affordable are these plans to the
average American? They will not be able to understand how much
the Government is spending on health care when they are struggling
to afford the necessities of life including their health coverage.
The high cost of many insurance plans has affected accessibility to
affordable health care. The average American family spends about
$8200 on health care premiums and out-of-pocket costs leading to
financial debt (Taylor, 2019).
In my opinion, the government should focus on health care reforms
that target all Americans and provide universal coverage and equal
accessibility to health care.
References
Blasé, B. (2020). The Disappointing Affordable Care Act. Retrieved
from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2020/09/23/the-
disappointing-affordable-care-act/?sh=61636b554d99
Obama B. (2016). United States Health Care Reform: Progress to
Date and Next Steps. JAMA, 316(5), 525–
532. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2016.9797
Taylor, J. (2019). Racism, Inequality, and Health Care for African
Americans. Retrieved from https://tcf.org/content/report/racism-
inequality-health-care-african-americans/?agreed
