Health Reform Legislation and Impact on Community
Health care is an essential part of human life. Robust and affordable health care is a basic necessity that’s treated as one of the fundamental human rights. The United States of America is practicing democracy, therefore, recognizes health as a key feature that needs to be provided to its citizens. It is in line with this principle that the Obama government came up with ‘The Health Reform Legislation.’ The Act passed by the House of Representatives in March 2010 (Macon, 2010), aimed at extending health care to millions of uninsured Americans, and to hold the errant insurance companies (msnbc, 2010). This paper provides an appraisal of the Act specifically touching on the benefits to the target population as well as an appraisal of its impact.
The Health Care Reform Bill of 2009, which culminated into, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, has and continues to evoke mixed reactions from all quarters of life in the U.S.A. There have been proponents, as well as opposers of the Act, with each section providing their arguments to support the claims. Supporters of the Act include the human rights groups, the employees, the aged and the unemployed. On the other extreme are the contesters led by the employers the errant players in the insurance industry and a cross-section of politicians. The employers see the reforms as an additional expenditure to their operational cost and have in turn resulted in passing on the burden to the employees.
The legislation will affect virtually all sections of the community, be it the children, the adults, the aged, the employed and non-employed, the rich and the poor. For a start, the legislation will be a panacea to the problem of discrimination for children with preexisting conditions. This is because the bill offers them a chance to access health insurance coverage. Under the new law, the young will be advantaged in that, they are allowed to remain under their parents’ insurance scheme till they reach the twenty-six years age level.1 The scheme also allows an adult with no insurance cover as a result of preexisting conditions to obtain affordable insurance through a temporary subsidized method of pooling their risks together (Macon, 2010). The employees have not been left out and stand to benefit from affordable health insurance schemes regardless of their salary level.2 In general, the health care bill commissions the government to make health care affordable to all by increasing the number of health institutions and health practitioners throughout the country. The bill is, therefore, meant to be beneficial to all citizens in the country.
Despite the sharp criticism extended on the health care reform by the US government, the plan is commendable. The main objective of the reforms, and which I strongly recommend, is to provide affordable and quality health care, to the people of the United States of America, regardless of position in the society (Umang, 2009). This will cut down significantly on the growth in health care spending and insurance covers. Such a health care arrangement provides an excellent case study to other governments in the world, that wishes to provide affordable health care and insurance schemes to their citizens.
References
Macon, P. (2010). What’s in the Health Care Bill? Web.
Msnbc, (2010). House Sends Health Care Bills to Obama’s desk. Web.
The Patient and Protection Act of 2010 § 2714, 2716, U. S. C § 3590 (2010).
Umang, M. (2009). Solving the American Health Care Crisis. Bloomington: iUniverse.
Footnotes
- See, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 2010. Section 2714 of the Act-Extension of Dependent Coverage.
- Ibid, Sec. 2716 on the protection of employees.