Estevan Padilla

Logical Argument: The pros and cons of affordable healthcare act.

Annotated Bibliography
Young, Jeffrey, and Avik Roy, MD. "Top 10 Pros & Cons - Obamacare." ProConorg Headlines.
Procon.org, 21 July 2015. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.
The source above shows 10 pro and cons about the affordable healthcare act. With the
pros and cons of the affordable healthcare act I will be able to state facts on both sides of
the topic. Each topic that the act has such as the cost of health insurance has a pro and a
con to it. Some other things that have pros and cons to them are the impact on the federal
deficit, if it has improved Medicare, has it improved Medicaid, primary care physician
shortage, independent payment advisory board, abortion funding, emergency room
impact, and the impact on business.
Commentary: This source gives ten pros and cons of the affordable healthcare act. In each
of the pros and cons it give details about each topic. This source can help me when I write
my Logical Argument Paper by helping me with the pros and cons of the affordable
healthcare act.
Day, Benjamin, David D. Himmelstein, Michael Broder, and Steffie Woolhandler. "THE
AFFORDABLE CARE ACT AND MEDICAL LOSS RATIOS: NO IMPACT IN FIRST
THREE YEARS." Pros and Cons of Obamacare: Is It What the United States Needs?
(n.d.): 127-31. Healthcare-now.org. Healthcare-now.org. Web.

One of the goals of the Affordable Care Act was to regulate the Medical Loss Ratio
(MLR) for insurance companies. The MLR is the percentage of premiums collected used
for overhead, administrative expenses versus the actual premiums used to pay claims for
medical expenses. Studies show that since the implementation of this law mandating a
minimum of 80% for small groups and 85% for large groups that the MLR for major
insurance carriers has not changed, therefore having little impact on those lines of
business. There was no marked change within these companies, because most already had
standards in place to control their administrative expenses. If an insurance company does
not meet these standards then they are required to pay a rebate to the insured, which is
returning a portion of the premiums that an individual may have paid into the health plan.
It should be noted that approximately 60% of our insured population is insured through
self-funded employer plans and those plans are exempt from the law so there is not
comparative data.
Commentary: This article attempts to explain the part of the law designed to help regulate
the administrative cost for health plans, in the hopes that it would keep premiums down.
Though the intent is good they are not able to provide accurate data, as a majority of
Americans that are insured through their employer are insured under self-insured plans,
which are exempt from reporting. We need to keep in mind that administrative cost are
not the sole factor in calculating health insurance premiums.
"The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA): Pros and Cons." Paperity. Paperity
Open Science Aggregated, Feb. 2013. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is our countrys way of attempting to address rising
healthcare cost along with individuals having a longer life expectancy. The goad of the

ACA is to make healthcare less expensive and more assessable. While the average
percentage of premium increase per year decreased from 9% in 2011 to 3-4% in 2012 it is
still too early to tell if the ACA is having the affect that was desired, keeping in mind that
self-insured plans are not regulated at the same level as fully-insured health plans. Early
signs of a positive change for our nations citizens is evident with the data that is
currently available.
Commentary: This article attempts to address that the Affordable Care Act making
healthcare more assessable and less expensive. The article fails to address the fact that all
care has not been more easily assessable due to lack of physicians to treat the amount of
individuals that are now insured and seeking care due to that status. Nor does the article
address that until more action is taken to regulate providers and not the healthcare plans
that premiums will not decrease as the law attempts to promise.
Furman, Jason. Six Economic Benefits of the Affordable Care Act. Web log post. White
House. The White House, 6 Feb 2014. Web. 2 Feb. 2016.
At this time we are unable to document the claim that the Affordable Care Act will bring
down unemployment, nor can we verify that it has slowed the growth of healthcare cost,
as self-insured plans, which is where a majority of Americans are insured through with
the employer are not required by law to report. We can verify that the benefit limitations
that plans previously had in place for their members has been removed and there are
individuals who are benefiting from this modification, placing less of the financial burden
on their families. The mandate for certain preventive services to be covered with no
patient responsibility has been a great benefit for those individuals that are covered
through self-insured or fully insured plans. Why it is true that a person can leave their

employment and not be denied private insurance, the excessive premium cost of those
individuals with pre-existing medical conditions is exorbitant and can place a hardship on
an individual.
Commentary: The article indicates the Affordable Care Act will bring down
unemployment. There is little documentation to prove this theory. Some preventive
benefits are now mandated by the ACA and it is factual that this helps reduce the
financial stress that is placed on a household in addition to allowing members at risk for
high cost disease to be identified and treated earlier, thus reducing expenses.
Powers, Janis. "The Side Effects of Obamacare Are Just What the Doctor Ordered." The
Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 06 Sept. 2015. Web. 02 Mar. 2016.
Three positive side effects of the Affordable Care Act are cost transparency, Medicare
scrutiny and technical investment. For cost transparency it is good to hold a hospital
accountable for charging a patient $15.00 per pill on one of their prescribed medication,
when they are able to get that same pill through their local pharmacy for $4.00. Hospitals
are now required to provide this information. With so many fraudulent Medicare claims
the additional scrutiny that the Medicare intermediaries and the providers receive now,
which require adequate documentation to support the services provided, is in itself
outstanding. With todays technical demands, requiring that all healthcare information
should be exchanged in an electronic format, whether it be eligibility, claims, medical
records or medical claims payments, more and more technical companies are scrambling
to provide programming and software applications to address these needs.

Commentary: Article addresses three items, which are a positive outcome from the
Affordable Care Act. Cost transparency, Medicare scrutiny and technical investment have
been long overdue. This articles emphasizes how these three items can help contain
healthcare cost.
"The Affordable Care Act Is Working." HHS.gov. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services,
07 Oct. 2014. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.
Is the Affordable Care Act working, are their more insured Americans? We have only
completed our first year of government mandated insurance coverage. Many of the states
that had opted for private-option, to use federal funds to subsidize premiums, have
petitioned Washington to withdraw and participate in Medicaid expansion only. At this
time it is too early to tell and we gave to take any publication that we may read with a
grain a salt.
Commentary: The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services continue to attempt to
place a positive spin on the Affordable Care Act. The program itself has only been truly
functional for a year and it is too early to know what the final outcome will be. The
industry has experienced and continues to experience a lot of growing pains.
Snyder, Tom. "The Negative Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Community Colleges." The
Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 05 May 2014. Web. 02 Mar. 2016.
There have been employers that as a result of being mandated to provide healthcare
coverage, who have actually decreased the amount of hours an employee works each
week to circumvent the requirement. Employers have had to make a choice, which in
some cases has altered the services they are providing. This article about a community

college is a perfect example. In the long run it is the people that the Affordable Care Act
that was designed help that are baring the financial burden, due a decrease income.
Commentary: With this article we see a small indication of the negative impact of the
Affordable Care Act that no one wants us to see. In the example offered in this article, not
only is the employee of the community college affected by the reduction in hours that
results in a loss of income, the students that attend this community college in attempt to
better themselves are not being given the education that they are paying for due to lack of
staffing. The very people that ACA is attempting to help are being hurt, because this Act,
though not intentional, is keeping them dependent on government assistance.