Justin Davis

Mr. Clarke
Universal seminar

Critical Essay
Obama care is the current state of health care in the United States. Obama care is a system that was
put in place to ensure that people who are uninsured could get insurance and make it more affordable
by purchasing insurance from a private marketplace. For the first time in U.S. history, every American
will have access to quality, affordable health care under the updated health insurance reform legislation
passed by the House. "The Affordable Health Care for America Act or H.R. 3962, blends and updates the
three versions of previous bills passed by the House committees. "(Kruger, M. 2010) This bill is expected
to ease the out-of-control costs of health insurance, introduce competition into the health care
marketplace that will help maintain coverage affordability, protect peoples choices of doctors and
health plans, and guarantee all Americans access to quality, consistent , affordable health care. The
Association of American Medical Colleges stated in a Mar. 21, 2010 article; "we have taken the first step
towards truly transforming health care in this country. This historic vote by the House of
Representatives sets into motion long-overdue efforts to cover 32 million uninsured Americans and to
assure their access to high-quality care. The nation's medical schools and teaching hospitals have
expressed their full support for this bill to President Obama, and now stand ready to work with the
administration and Congress to carry out these significant changes to our health care delivery system."
(AAMC, 2010) The health care reform bill creates a shared responsibility for health care among
individuals, employers and the government to ensure that all Americans have affordable essential health
benefits. Two of the key components, and possibly the most debated or criticized of the Affordable
Health Care for America Act are the individual mandates and the health insurance exchange subsidy
programs. The individual health insurance mandates under the new health care reform, will require
most U.S. citizens and legal residents to have health insurance. There will be a subsidy program that will
be implemented along with a state based health insurance exchanges that will assist with the cost and
selection of affordable insurance. Except in cases of hardship, once market reforms and affordability
credits and subsidies are in effect, individuals will be responsible for obtaining and maintaining health
insurance coverage. "Those who choose to not obtain coverage will pay a penalty of 2.5 percent of
modified adjusted gross income above a specified level. Exemptions will be granted for financial
hardship, religious objections, American Indians, those without coverage for less than three months,
undocumented immigrants, incarcerated individuals, those for whom the lowest cost plan option
exceeds 8% of an individuals income, and those with incomes below the tax filing threshold.
Researching my debate topic taught me how to engage in a discussion effectively. It taught me that to
state an argument; you must have it supported by facts. To have an argument with no facts is an
argument with just opinions. I also learned that in a debate you have to research the opposing teams
possible arguments which are called a rebuttal. I learned the is method to approaching statements and
understanding what someone says.
ObamaCare is a classic case of a misguided and badly implemented government program. It restricts
freedom of choice and imposes a series of bad new taxes. While taxes are needed to subsidize those
ObamaCare participants who do not pay the full cost of their ObamaCare insurance, the selected taxes
violate the accepted principles of taxation in every instance. Moreover, the law mandates coverages
that increase the cost to those who do not want those coverages.
Not a single Republican voted for ObamaCare. Obviously, the Democrats, who controlled both houses of
the Congress at the time, did not need or even want any Republican support for it. They wanted full
credit for it. They're now getting it.
Works citied

National Review Online, Deroy Murdock - Democrats Against Obamacare, May 04, 2014
Washington Times,WILLIAMS: Why are we against Obamacare?,The Washington Times October 27,
2013 May 03, 2013, Armstrong Williams.
The Huffington Post, The Uninsured Are Turning Against Obamacare. That's A Proble[],
TheHuffingtonPost.com, February 26, 2014, May 04, 201, Jeffrey Young.