Austin M.

Hansen Irene Peterson July 30, 2013

What to expect with ObamaCare What is ObamaCare? What kind of reform are we looking at? How much is this going to affect me? Who will be in charge of running this program? What does this law hold for me in the future? These are all questions that Americans have about this new law that will be coming into place and all are legit questions and concerns. Most of the general public know little to nothing about the Affordable Care act. When it comes into full affect they are in for quite the ride. I have chosen this topic because Politics and Government is one of the things that I love to study. Also because I am heavily affected by this new law and I feel like everyone needs to be aware of what it is. A good way to start out with explaining ObamaCare is by giving it a general definition. It is a nation-wide HealthCare reform aimed to give more Americans access to affordable health insurance, regulating the health insurance industry and cutting spending in health care. It is required that all Americans have health insurance either through a private provider or through a state or federal assisted program. If you don't have insurance you must pay a tax equal to 1% of your income in 2014 and 2.5% in 2016. There are over 44 million Americans who are uninsured or are unable to get insurance. The goal is to get everyone to get insurance so that the young and healthy can support the elderly and the sick. Thus, decreasing the premiums and rates for people to buy insurance. Thats the intention of the new law. But there is a lot more to the Affordable Care Act than most people realize.

The reason that not a lot of people dont know exactly whats all in ObamaCare is due to the ridiculous length of the legislation. It is over 2,000 pages long and has created over 10,000 pages of regulation. Many congressmen werent able to read the whole thing back in 2010 when they suspiciously hurried it through Congress to get it passed. In the words of Nancy Pelosi "we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it." Is it just me or would it make more sense to know everything about a bill before we make it the law of the land? It is a complete overhaul of the HealthCare system. It is not something that should have been taken with great precaution not with haste. And to top it all off, the President is delaying the implementation of one of the mandates in the law that requires employers with 50 or more workers to offer affordable coverage, or face fines. Instead of going into effect next year, the provision was put off to 2015. If its such a great reform as they say why keep delaying it? The answer is that Americans dont want this law. Polls show that 54% oppose the law, and 56% want it to go as it was before. Only a small one third of the country supports it. Two thirds of the states have refused to implement the laws health insurance exchanges which would require 800 billion dollars of entitlement spending. Despite that the IRS is still planning on taxing, borrowing and spending those 800 billion dollars anyways. There are three big concerns with this massive overhaul of the HealthCare system. Those without employer-sponsored health insurance will be required to purchase plans through health exchanges. By health exchanges they mean, a government-regulated market for buying health insurance coverage for individuals and families. This also means more people dependent on the government to provide and take care of them. Nearly one-in-three US residents receive government assistance. Thats not including those benefitting from Social Security or Medicare. Over 100 million people in the United States are now receiving some form of federal welfare.

And its only growing. Another statistic I want to throw out there about government and the growing dependency on it is that during the first quarter of 2009 when Barack Obama was inaugurated as President of the United States, about 97 million American Citizens were receiving federal benefits. The second concern is that more than 30 million newly insured patients will be looking for health providers. How will all these patients be taken care of? There is a shortage of more than 13,000 physicians in this country, which is expected to grow to 130,000 by 2025, according to Association of American Medical Colleges. With our increased advances in medicine people are living longer, healthier lives. Our population will continue to rise substantially. This will mean that we will need more physicians to take care of these people when they become sick or injured. With the new regulations that will come into place doctors will receive less money or even not be able to practice medicine anymore, therefore less people will have incentive to become doctors. The third concern is that some states are still debating whether to expand Medicaid. Medicaid is a federal system of health insurance for those requiring financial assistance. Medicaid provides health coverage to more than 50 million children, families, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with disabilities. If they decide not to, millions of poor Americans would remain without health insurance. Despite the downsides of this reform there are some benefits for what it would do. Some are worried that businesses wont cover their employees and just the pay the fine for not covering their insurance. Donald Susswein says it best when explaining the business aspect of it. For employers, the cost of providing a typical minimum-value health plan may be about $5,000 per worker. If the workers all earned at least $40,000, they could be required to pay $3,800 (9.5 percent of wages), leaving the employer responsible for only $1,200, which could be claimed as a tax deduction. The employer's alternative would be a $2,000 penalty per employee, with no tax

deduction, the equivalent of about $3,300 in deductible costs. A cost of $1,200 for subsidies compared to an equivalent of about $3,300 for penalties. Therefore, most employers are unlikely to drop coverage. But that doesnt mean that every business is created equal. Some businesses would actually save money not insuring their employees and pay the fine. That is for the business to decide not the government. This is a massive project to take under. And its going to be managed by one of the least popular branches of government. The Internal Revenue Service. The IRS has been taking a lot of heat lately from the scandal of abusing their powers and targeting US citizens based on their political views and religious beliefs. Whats to stop them for doing the same thing with ObamaCare? Will they abuse their power yet again with managing this law? Personally I am very concerned about how they will go about and implementing it. They can seize your assets, take your house, throw you in jail, destroy your business and ruin your life without giving it a second thought if they felt like doing so. Im worried that those that oppose ObamaCare and the IRS will be subject to punishment and cause civil unrest in this country. Thats the last thing that we need, the country becoming more divided over a controversial issue. What we need is responsible leadership and a set plan on what to fix and how to fix it. We are not getting that from our President and our government. My belief is that ObamaCare is not what this country needs, that it will fail miserably and once people realize that it wont work for our economic system we will work together to come up with a HealthCare reform that will work perfectly for our country. Only time will tell whether or not it will work. But time is running out for us to make a change before an economic collapse. We can only hope for the best.

Cannon, Michael. The Obstacle Is That American Dont Want It. The New York Times, May 29, 2013 Pho, Kevin. Its complicated, but Far Better Than Nothing. The New York Times, May, 29, 2013. Susswein, Donald. Some Gaps Are Deliberate, Not Flaws. The New York Times, May 29, 2013. http://www.insurekidsnow.gov/medicaid/ http://rt.com/usa/million-us-residents-welfare-268/