Meza 1 Adrian Meza Emily Parrish English 1010 12-10-13 Obama Care Can Be Great There have been

problems in the United States healthcare system since the beginning of the growth of the United States government that affects all its citizens and people who live in it. Obama Care has been passed to be the new healthcare system in the United States, which was passed in 2010. Problems with the past healthcare system were that the price to get health insurance coverage was way too high for people to afford, people with pre-existing medical conditions could not be eligible to get coverage by health care companies, and if people had health insurance, those insurance companies had lifetime limits on the coverage. Obama Care is something that needed to happen to solve the health care problems in the United States. Obama Care is good, but it can improve by changing the way the United States Government explains what Obama Care actually is to its citizens, enabling immigrants to obtain coverage under Obama Care, and also the United States needs to create a system so that healthcare can not contradict with the peoples religious beliefs.

To try and improve Obama Care first citizens must understand what it will do. Obama Care, also known as Affordable Care Act, is a new health care system law that was passed by the US government in 2010 under the Obama administration. The new health care system is meant to solve and improve the problems with the past health care system. The new health care act would

Meza 2 create competition among insurance companies and allow for rebates to be given. A rebate is money that insurance companies give to its insurers when the insurance company is not spending at least 80% of its money towards premium or medical care. Some services like screening and vaccinations will be given free to those who qualify for Obama Care. This would save money for families who cannot pay for vaccines for their children. Medicare was improved so it helps elderly pay for drug costs and different services needed. Young people were also helped with Obama Care by letting those who are uninsured to be able to stay on their parents health care coverage until the age of 26. Small companies will be able to get help from the government to insure their workers with insurance so it will not all come out of pocket of the small companies. The companies will not be able to have lifetime limits on their coverage as they have had in the past. A lifetime limit is a cap on the benefits paid under a policy. Many policies have a lifetime limit of $1 million, which means that the insurer agrees to cover up to $1 million in covered services over the life of the policy. Obama Care will make it illegal to turn down coverage to kids with pre-existing health conditions. Pre-existing conditions are a health condition or a medical problem acknowledged by persons health plan before receiving insurance. Some health plans before may not pay for health conditions people had prior to becoming a member. Adults with pre-existing health conditions will get help from the government and be put in something called a High Risk Pool. High Risk Pools are operated by a government, for people on the individual health insurance market who are deemed too risky by private insurers. Starting in 2014, Medicaid will be expanded to cover all low income individuals and families. If citizens do not have a job or their current job is not covering enough, then the government will give health credit taxes. Health credit taxes are taxes given to those who are not able to pay to pay for

Meza 3 insurance to help them pay for insurance. If citizens jobs are not providing them with the chance of getting health insurance, then the government will allow the citizens to be in something that is called an Exchange. An Exchange is a health insurance marketplaces that are organizations set up to facilitate the purchase of health insurance in every state of the United States. Everyone in the United States will have to have insurance and if people do not get health insurance, then they will have to pay a tax fee. So because of this, by 2019, 32 million people will be insured that were not insured in the past. There will still be 23 million people who will not be insured, like undocumented immigrants. In 10 years it will cost 928 billion dollars to put the law into effect, according to the Congressional Budget Office. This is only 2% of the federal budget and 3% of the health care spending overall. The country will be able to pay for all Obama Care by stopping the raises of fees to hospitals, giving less of the earnings to the insurance companies, experiment on being more efficient in hospitals, and taxing people with higher earnings. Giving the citizens a simpler overview of Obama Care will create an understanding of what Obama Care will do and this will create less confusion and understanding towards the law.

Citizens around America have complained about raising costs in obtaining health care and one solution could be, helping illegal immigrants to be covered by Obama Care. In an article by Stephen Dinan titled Legalizing Illegal Immigrants is the solution to Obama Care, Stephen brought up that Rep. Jared Polis, a Colorado Democrat, had said American citizens are essentially being forced to pay for the health care costs of people who are here illegally every day, until we pass comprehensive immigration reform. Were wondering why rates are going up. Its no surprise. When somebody doesnt have insurance, their costs are shifted onto other

Meza 4 people that do. He also went on to say, Illegal immigrants are one of the few categories of people in the U.S. who arent subjected to Obama Cares individual mandate requiring all people to have health insurance coverage. They also arent eligible for taxpayer subsidies to buy insurance on the health exchanges, nor are they supposed to be getting assistance under Medicaid. All this makes it so immigrants will have to go into emergency care and create a bill for the US government and immigrants. The United States needs to make a law that benefits immigrants with getting health care and it will overall help the government in costs. According to the FAIR (Federation for Immigration Reform) American Immigrant contribute to $11.2 billion annually in state and local taxes alone they also contribute in sales taxes, property taxes, and income taxes, so why not help immigrants if they have helped the American governments income?

Americas greatest aspect is being able to live together with all the different religions in one country, but what happens when religion and American Government laws contradict each other? This has been seen in the case of Hobby Lobby vs. Obama Care, Hobby Lobby is a private company founded in 1970. The company has Christian beliefs and backgrounds, Hobby Lobby does not agree on providing its employees with birth control because it goes against the Christian beliefs. The Obama Care law is making companies provide its employees with birth control, and because Hobby Lobby is not doing following the law, Hobby Lobby can be faced with a fine of $100 dollars per employee, according to Richard Wolf from USA Today. Hobby Lobby has 500 art stores around the country with about 13,000 full time employees, with all those employees Hobby Lobby would have to pay a fine of $ 475 million dollars a year. The

Meza 5 United States has been really good in trying not to have problems with religion, so in this case they must create some sort of loopholes for those religious based companies that allows for peace between both the business and the United States of America.

Even with changes, Obama Care will still have things citizens will not like. One thing is for sure, millions of citizens will lose their current insurance policies. According to FOX News Insider, 80 percent of people in the individual market will lose their policy due to Obama Care regulations. Citizens will have to get a new health policy unless their current plan follows the regulations of Obama Care. But why are citizens complaining? Sure citizens have to get a new plan but everyone will HAVE to do it, its the law and its being done to improve Americas society. Rep. Matt Cartwright in an interview with MSNBC Live Friday said, They have immense deductibles, they have annual and lifetime caps. There are so many people out there with what I call phony insurance policies, and the fact that theyre going to lose those policies, sooner or later, I think is a good thing. Because what were up to here is we are strengthening the health care system in this country. Americans also believe that Obama Care creates less freedom for the people and more power for the government. But how is it that its okay for the US government to enforce all to have car insurance to protect cars and people are okay with that, but how are people not okay with having human health insurance to protect themselves? Both car insurance and health insurance are alike with that everyone will have to pay premiums; in an article titled why does Obama Care mandate health insurance? By Steve Vernon, a CBS writer said Same with car insurance. If you pay premiums for car insurance and don't have an accident, then you've paid for something but received nothing in return. On the other hand, if you do have

Meza 6 an accident, then the benefits you receive will likely be worth more than the premiums you paid. Citizens are also complaining that the taxes will rise, but not everyone's taxes will rise. In an article by John Kartch titled Obama on Obama Care: We did raise taxes on some things. In the Americans for Tax Reform website, Mr. Kartch lists some places where citizens taxes will raise. Kartch mentioned that uninsured families, med devices, flex accounts, small businesses, people with high medical bills and charitable hospitals would have taxes raises because of Obama Care.

Obama Care is a good form of health insurance; America has seen it work in Massachusetts when Mitt Romney created something very similar to it, Romney Care. By explaining Obama Care to the public in a way everyone can understand it, enabling immigrants to obtain coverage under Obama Care, and creating a system so that healthcare can not contradict with peoples religious beliefs. By making these changes the United States can improve Obama Care and create a successful run health care system.